--- title: "Scientists Grew a Mushroom Into This Robot to Act as Its Brain" description: "Engineering researchers at Cornell have come up with a novel way to control a walking robot: with mushrooms." date: "2024-08-31" modified: "2024-08-31" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mushroom-robot-brain" categories: - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "biohybrid robots" - "Fungi" - "mushrooms" - "the digest" --- # Scientists Grew a Mushroom Into This Robot to Act as Its Brain ![Engineering researchers at Cornell have come up with a novel way to control a walking robot: with mushrooms.]() *\Image: Cornell University\* ## Mushroomhead Researchers at Cornell have come up with a novel way to control a walking robot: with a mushroom. Cornell [explained in a press release]() that these four-legged "biohybrid" robots were built by researchers who literally grew [mycelia](), the belowground connective threads that allow fungal communities to communicate, into the robot itself. "By growing mycelium into the electronics of a robot," explained mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Rob Shepard, "we were able to allow the biohybrid machine to sense and respond to the environment." Because this research marries organic and inorganic components, it took an interdisciplinary approach to bring these fungi-powered fun guys to life. As organic robotics researcher Anand Mishra noted in the release, contamination is always a big concern when sticking electrodes into fungus. To head that off, Cornell plant pathology associate professor Kathie Hodge taught the roboticist how to grow clean mycelia cultures so they could most effectively send the electrical signals stoked by Mishra's bespoke interface. "You have to have a background in mechanical engineering, electronics, some mycology, some neurobiology, some kind of signal processing," he explained. "All these fields come together to build this kind of system." ## Walk With Me Published in the [journal *Science Robotics*](), the paper on these moldy little robots describes the three tasks its handlers had it carry out: walking and rolling around, reacting to ultraviolet light that made them change the way they walked, and overriding their native mycelial signal entirely. As a video from the experiment shows, the robots ended up moving like strange little spiders or landbound jellyfish. https://www.twitter.com/NerdyChristie/status/1829316632092553250 Beyond just providing more evidence of fungi's incredible electrical impulses and the ways they can [interact with]() or [be incorporated into technology](), the researchers predict that these shroom bots will not only have uses in the world of agriculture, but may revolutionize the understanding of how mycelium works, too. "This kind of project is not just about controlling a robot," he said. "It is also about creating a true connection with the living system. Because once you hear the signal, you also understand what’s going on. Maybe that signal is coming from some kind of stresses. So you’re seeing the physical response, because those signals we can’t visualize, but the robot is making a visualization." **More on fun guys:** [*Scientists Find Plastic-Eating Fungus Feasting on Great Pacific Garbage Patch*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()