Amoeboid Robot Moves Autonomously Without Centralized Brain

An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from MIT's Technology Review: "A new blob-like robot described in the journal Advanced Robotics uses springs, feet, 'protoplasm' and a distributed nervous system to move in a manner inspired by the slime mold Physarum polycepharum. ... Researcher Takuya Umedachi of Hiroshima University has been perfecting his blob-bot for years, starting with early prototypes that used springs but lacked an air-filled bladder. ... Umedachi modeled his latest version on the 'true' slime mold, which has been shown to achieve a 'human-like' decision-making capacity through properties emerging from the interactions of its individual spores (abstract). Slime molds appear to have general computational abilities, and you've probably heard that they can solve mazes."

Re:hey!

[flyneye]

No, it's not.
But these blobs have been undulating around malls for years, utilizing directional decision making to navigate the food courts, the bathrooms and regulate shopper traffic with their massive buttocks,bellys and arm fat dewlaps.

The real question is who stands to profit from controlling these Blob Bots or are they truly autonomous ?