# 48. How Robots Can Reproduce and Create Organs

- Show: [The Next Byte Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast)
- Published: 2021-12-14
- Length: 22m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2021-12-14-48-how-robots-can-reproduce-and-create-organs
- Listen: https://the-next-byte-wevolver.simplecast.com/episodes/48-self-replicating-robots-CggA8ylj

## Summary

Hosts Daniel and Forbode discuss two recent advances in bio-engineering: the creation of self-replicating 'Xenobots' by a team from the University of Vermont, Tufts University, and Harvard, and new tissue engineering techniques from EPFL. They explain how Xenobots are assembled from African frog stem cells and designed via AI simulation to swim and reproduce, raising ethical questions about playing God. They then detail how EPFL researchers use mechanobiology and microactuators to control the shape of epithelial tissues, solving the problem of collapse and enabling potential vascularization for medical use.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2021-12-14-48-how-robots-can-reproduce-and-create-organs#t=0) Introduction and Xenobots Overview
- [3:34](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2021-12-14-48-how-robots-can-reproduce-and-create-organs#t=214) Xenobot Design and AI Simulation
- [6:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2021-12-14-48-how-robots-can-reproduce-and-create-organs#t=373) Xenobot Reproduction and Ethics
- [11:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2021-12-14-48-how-robots-can-reproduce-and-create-organs#t=687) EPFL Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology
- [17:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2021-12-14-48-how-robots-can-reproduce-and-create-organs#t=1030) Vascularization and Future Applications

## Topics

- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)

## Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

## Mentioned

- Xenobots (product)
- University of Vermont (company)
- Tufts University (company)
- Harvard (company)
- EPFL (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Episode 147: Miniature living robots - Maria Guix](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2026-03-06-episode-147-miniature-living-robots-maria-guix) (Robot Talk)
- [Episode Forty-Seven: Helmut Hauser](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-05-05-episode-forty-seven-helmut-hauser) (Robot Talk)
- [Episode 102: Soft robots inspired by plants - Isabella Fiorello](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2024-12-13-episode-102-soft-robots-inspired-by-plants-isabella-fiorello) (Robot Talk)
- [Episode Thirteen – Robot evolution: survival of the fittest](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2022-01-28-episode-thirteen-robot-evolution-survival-of-the-fittest) (Robot Talk)
- [Episode 83: Life-like artificial systems - Estelle Raffy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2024-05-03-episode-83-life-like-artificial-systems-estelle-raffy) (Robot Talk)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2021-12-14-48-how-robots-can-reproduce-and-create-organs. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to The Next Byte Podcast.