Neurobots—xenobots with neurons—show self-organized nervous systems and enhanced behaviors, revealing new insights into how biology builds functional structures.
In 2020, researchers at Tufts University developed tiny living structures known as xenobots using frog cells. These microscopic organisms could move through water, repair themselves, and even gather loose cells to form new xenobots.
Scientists at Tufts and the Wyss Institute have now pushed this work further by introducing nerve cells into these biological machines. The upgraded versions, called neurobots, can take on different shapes and display new patterns of movement. The findings were recently published in Advanced Science.
Led by Michael Levin, Vannevar Bush Professor of Biology, and Haleh Fotowat of the Wyss Institute, the research is part of a broader effort to understand how groups of cells organize themselves into complex structures under unfamiliar conditions. This knowledge could support advances in synthetic biology and regenerative medicine. Studying neurobots may reveal the underlying rules that guide how nervous systems form, which could eventually help scientists design new biological structures or repair damaged tissues.
To produce neurobots, scientists inserted clusters of neural precursor cells, which later develop into neurons, into the center of forming biobots. This was done during a brief stage when the spherical structures were still developing. The implanted cells matured and extended branching structures known as axons and dendrites throughout the interior and toward the surface.
“We wanted to find out what would happen if we provided these biobots with the raw materials needed to build a nervous system,” said Levin, director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts. He explained that neurobots offer a new way to study how neurons organize themselves and influence movement. “This approach is different because you now have a system with a biological body that can exhibit behavior,” said Levin.
Fotowat said the work also aims to uncover the basic principles behind how nervous systems form. “I’ve tried to understand neuronal behavior in existing animals like zebrafish and how they give rise to behavior, but neurobots are about reverse engineering. Can we build a nervous system from the start? What happens if you put neurons in a completely novel context? What are the basic, innate rules for them to organize and form networks?”
Neural Activity and Structural Changes
Microscopy showed that neurons within the neurobots developed key features found in natural nervous systems, including axons and dendrites. Researchers also detected protein markers linked to synapses, where neurons communicate. Using calcium imaging, they confirmed that these neurons were electrically active and functioning within simple neural networks.
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-create-neurobots-living-machines-with-their-own-nervous-systems/
Scientists craft synthetic biological machines with working neurons
Back in 2020, scientists from Tufts University had developed small synthetic life forms capable of navigating watery environments, healing injuries, and gathering other cells to build copies, known as xenobots. These tiny machines were made using frog cells.
Now, the same team has created a new class of living machines called neurobots, by introducing nerve cells to the xenobots. These artificial life forms grow larger, change shape and display more complex movement patterns than the xenobots, their predecessors. The neurobots are made from precursor skin cells of embryos of the African clawed frog. When these cells are placed in a dish, they spontaneously assemble into spherical structures covered in beating cilia that propel them through water.
Neurobots: Biological Robots with A Simple Nervous System
A new study demonstrated that introducing neurons into Xenopus-derived biobots led to the self-organization of active neural circuits and complex behavior.
https://www.the-scientist.com/neurobots-biological-robots-with-a-simple-nervous-system-74333
Tufts University and the Wyss Institute at Harvard researchers have discovered a class of microscopic biological machines that develop primitive nervous systems to guide their own locomotion.
These observers noted that neurons within these biohybrid systems sprout and connect without gene editing, relying instead on cellular self-assembly. The study describes self-organizing neural networks in living biobots that shift anatomy and behavior. By leveraging natural tissue architecture, science can now steer how these living robots interact with their surroundings.
Embodied intelligence defines this departure from traditional robotics, where the physical form itself processes information.
Findings show that adding neurons reshapes movement patterns, allowing anthrobots and neurobots to perform purposeful course corrections. Adopting biohybrid frameworks avoids the structural stiffness of mechanical devices. This shift offers a more adaptive, resilient model for future medical research and regenerative discovery.
https://www.intelligentliving.co/living-neurobots-self-wiring-nervous-system/
Lab-Grown Xenobots With Self-Built Nervous Systems Move in Ways Evolution Never Planned
March 16, 2026
These living spheres, called xenobots (after the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis that donates the tissue), have been around since 2020. They can navigate watery environments, repair injuries, even gather loose cells and assemble copies of themselves. But a team at Tufts University and the Wyss Institute has now pushed the idea considerably further, implanting neural precursor cells into the developing spheres and watching what the neurons do when they wake up inside a body that evolution never designed. The resulting creatures, which the researchers call neurobots, are reported in Advanced Science.
Building one is a fiddly bit of microsurgery. You dissociate cells from roughly 50 frog embryos, keep them separated for about three hours (long enough that they commit to becoming neurons rather than skin), then reaggregate the cells into small clumps. While a freshly excised animal cap is still healing into its bowl shape, you tuck one or more of these neural clumps inside before the tissue seals shut. Within a couple of days the composite has healed, and by day three, cilia appear on the surface and the thing begins to move.
What the neurons get up to inside is, arguably, the most striking part. Staining with antibodies that bind to proteins found in mature nerve cells revealed that the implanted precursors had differentiated into proper neurons, extending axons and dendrites throughout the interior.
Some of those projections reached all the way to the outer surface, making contact with the ciliated cells that drive locomotion. Protein markers associated with synapses turned up as well, scattered along the neural branches. Calcium imaging confirmed that the neurons were electrically active and, in some cases, firing in loosely coordinated patterns across distant regions of the construct.
h/t Digital mix guy Kirk Spock