Kobe University researchers have developed a slime mold-controlled bot in an effort to find simpler ways to control a robot’s behavior in a complex or paradoxical environment.

They grew slime in a six-pointed star shape on top of a circuit and connected it remotely, via a computer, to the hexapod bot. Light sensors on top of the robot controlled light shone onto one of the six points of the circuit-mounted mould, each corresponding to a leg of the bot.

As the slime tried to get away from the light, its movement was sensed by the circuit and used to control one of the robot’s six legs.