FEATURE
A food-foraging C. elegans robot
’m a member of the OpenWorm
open science organisation
(openworm.org). Our aim is to
create a virtual worm. The worm
is C. elegans, a tiny (1 mm)
nematode. Biologists have
been very fascinated with this
worm for many years, basically
because it is so easy to study,
with only about 1000 cells- 302 of those cells are
neurons (nerve cells).
C. elegans was the first
organism to have its
genome mapped out.
Another goal of
OpenWorm is to
promote scientific
I
By Tom PortegysA FOOD-FORAGING
C. ELEGANS ROBOT
awareness through crossover education in
biology, robotics, and coding (a popular
approach in many educational
environments). For OpenWorm, this meant
building robots that approximate the real
worm. The downside of this is that C.
elegans is, of course, not a
robot. However,
simulating the worm in
robotic form manifests
a tangible aspect that
pure software models
do not possess. Also, a
worm robot sidesteps
working with actual
worms, which requires
special conditions and
equipment, such as
lighting and microscopes.
In early 2017, some of
us set about how to make a
robot that tries to stay true to
the biology of C. elegans.
There were other C. elegans
robots around. For example, we
talked to a researcher at the
University of Leeds, who had made a
tube-like robot: hsmag.cc/bjCmdv. We
also were aware of a project by a former
OpenWorm member that runs the worm
nervous system, called the connectome, in
a Lego robot: hsmag.cc/ehJ0Zn. We also
were guided by a couple of scientificHow I Made
Converting biology into computer science
Above
The unpowered
wheels let
the robot
wiggle forwardIn motion
Videos of the robot can be found here:
Moving without sensor:
hsmag.cc/SdFcjJ
Foraging food to right:
hsmag.cc/gXzGfl
Foraging food to left:
hsmag.cc/mjrTTVcreate a virtual worm. The worm
mm)
nematode. Biologists haveenvironments). For OpenWorm, this meant
building robots that approximate the real
worm. The downside of this is that C.robot that tries to stay true to
the biology of C. elegans.
There were other C. elegans
robots around. For example, we
talked to a researcher at the
University of Leeds, who had made a
tube-like robot: