this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
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Did the mushroom learn to control a robot, or did the scientists figure out how to connect a robot to a mushroom in such a way as to make the regular processes happening inside the mushroom trigger a set of robot legs? Because the article makes it seem like the mushroom is intelligent and has agency, and was thus far only lacking the proper robot body in order to express that; but the video makes it look like the legs were all pumping in unison, and the resulting movement was more or less coincidental.
The article actually explains that the mushroom is essentially being hijacked for some of its sensory abilities, like light and heat. The mushroom is connected to an electronic circuit. The electronics make decisions about what to do based on the mushrooms' sensory observations.
It's a clickbait title, but the article does clarify.
Robot uses mushrooms as living sensor would have intrigued me
Right? Why lie. Using mushrooms as a living sensor is cool as hell. Mushrooms can span miles through mycelium with multiple fruiting bodies. If you could take input from one body and get information from all the fruiting bodies that could be a cool way to get aggregate data across an area with little effort. Especially since mushrooms can grow in irradiated or otherwise dangerous locations.