Robots can choose their mate, have sex and create their own "robot baby." A team of scientists from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam has proven this in its Robot Baby Project. They were able to successfully have the world's first baby "born" to robot parents.
The robots didn't actually meet, date, have sex and give birth like humans or animals. But the whole idea did start out on a similar concept. The researchers created an arena where the robots thrived and worked - just like in human life. In this ecosystem, the researchers also placed a section with a red light. This was the established "dating spot." It's where the robots "communicated" and eventually found their mate, per Daily Mail.
After carefully evaluating each other, the robots then decided to procreate with the aid of Wi-Fi technology. The data the robots sent out became the genome or "DNA" codes. These codes were read by a 3D printer. The latter then created new parts of a robot based on the readings. This was how the robot baby came to be. Tech Crunch reports that the robots were made and designed as motorized blocks and their offspring basically looks the same, but with a mix of data from its parents.
Under the project, "Robot Baby" researchers at VU demonstrated that #robots can have children. https://t.co/WNvyN7KWk5 @RobotGlobe #robotics
— ROBOT GLOBE (@RobotGlobe) June 1, 2016
But what is the point of this Robot Baby Project? Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stated in its press release that their concept could help in future space explorations, such as in "the colonization of Mars."
The project also sheds light on the evolution of things, which the project's head, Guszti Eiben, describes as an "emerging new technology." This means that, in the right environment, robots can evolve their behavior, their bodies and even their brains. The project sheds a clearer path for new discoveries in "robotics, artificial intelligence, space research, and even biology," Elben said.
