Imagine a robot moving across a room, rolling on wheels or awkwardly shuffling on five soft robotic legs. At first glance, these robots might seem like standard machines powered by electricity. However, what sets them apart is the source of their control: a living organism—an oyster mushroom.
In a groundbreaking experiment led by researchers at Cornell University, scientists have integrated the mycelium, or root-like threads, of a king oyster mushroom into the hardware of robots. These robots respond to environmental stimuli by harnessing electrical signals generated by the fungus, creating a hybrid of living organism and machine.
Biohybrid Robots: Where Biology Meets Engineering
This study is part of an emerging field called biohybrid robotics, where scientists combine living materials, such as plant cells, animal tissue, or fungi, with synthetic components to create partially organic, partially artificial robots. While these biohybrids are still confined to laboratories, the potential applications of such technology are vast and exciting.
For example, researchers envision jellyfish-like robots exploring the oceans, sperm-powered bots delivering fertility treatments, or cyborg cockroaches searching for survivors in disaster zones. As Robert Shepherd, a senior author of the study and professor at Cornell University’s Organic Robotics Lab, explains, biology often outperforms our engineered systems in tasks like sensing, understanding, and reacting to stimuli. Biohybridization aims to harness the strengths of both biology and artificial systems to enhance robot functionality.
“Biohybridization is an attempt to find components in the biological world that we can harness, understand, and control to help our artificial systems work better,” says Shepherd.
Harnessing the Power of Mushrooms
The Cornell team’s experiment began with king oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus eryngii), selected for their rapid growth and ease of cultivation. Researchers grew the mushrooms in a lab using a simple online kit and cultivated the mycelium, the network of threadlike structures beneath the mushroom's fruiting body. These mycelial networks exhibit fascinating characteristics—they can sense, communicate, and transport nutrients in a manner similar to neurons in the human brain.
Though the idea of "shroom bots" sounds playful, the robots are actually powered by the mycelium, not the mushrooms themselves. Mycelium generates small electrical signals, which can be detected and amplified. These signals are then used to control the robots’ movements, allowing them to respond to environmental factors like light.
The Science Behind the Mycelium-Driven Robots
The research team faced several technical challenges when creating a system that could translate the mycelium’s electrical activity into actionable data for the robots. Mycelium’s threads are delicate, and getting the electrodes positioned correctly was a delicate task. Lead author Anand Mishra, a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell, explains the challenge: "You have to make sure that your electrode touches in the right position because the mycelia are very thin. There is not a lot of biomass there."
Once the electrodes were in place, the team developed an electrical interface that could read and process the raw electrical signals from the mycelium. These signals were then translated into digital commands that activated the robots' actuators—the components that allow them to move. As a result, the robots were able to walk, roll, and change direction in response to electrical spikes generated by the mycelium.
Moreover, when the researchers introduced ultraviolet light to the robots, the mycelium-driven systems altered their movement patterns, demonstrating the robots’ ability to react to their environment. "Mushrooms don’t really like light," Shepherd notes. "Based on the difference in the light intensities, the robot’s behavior changes. It will either speed up or move away from the light."
Expanding the Boundaries of Biohybrid Robotics
Victoria Webster-Wood, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University, applauds the work for pushing the boundaries of biohybrid robotics. "Fungi may have advantages over other biohybrid approaches in terms of the conditions required to keep them alive," she notes. If fungi prove more resilient to harsh environmental conditions than other biological materials, they could be ideal candidates for biohybrid robots used in agriculture or marine monitoring.
The study's success in creating tether-free robots—robots not physically connected to an external power source—marks a significant achievement in the field. "Truly tether-free biohybrid robots are a challenge in the field," Webster-Wood adds. "Seeing them achieve this with mycelium is quite exciting."
Biohybrids in Real-World Applications
Fungi-powered robots hold promise for practical, real-world uses, particularly in agriculture. Shepherd envisions future biohybrid robots that could monitor soil conditions in crop fields and decide when to add fertilizer, possibly reducing the harmful environmental impact of over-fertilization, such as harmful algal blooms.
Fungal computing also has applications in environmental monitoring. Andrew Adamatzky, a professor at the University of the West of England, believes that fungal-based robots could detect changes in the environment—like air pollution—and react accordingly. His lab has developed over 30 devices using living fungi, including self-healing skins for robots that can sense light and touch.
A New Era of Robotics
The successful integration of living organisms like fungi into robotic systems represents a major step forward in biohybrid robotics. As the technology progresses, the possibilities for their use in medicine, environmental monitoring, and even disaster response seem endless. With further innovation, fungi-driven robots could play a pivotal role in the future of robotics, bringing the organic and the artificial together in ways we are just beginning to understand.