Wetware Couture investigates the potential use and implementation of a simple biological life form like Slime Mould into a number of computing, robotics and wearable applications.
Physarum Polycephalum is a genus of Slime Mould, a unicellular organism that can be attracted and repelled by certain food sources, chemical or aromatic compounds spreading its body mass around those and making its distribution network very efficient. Following those rules it is possible to control the Physarum behave.
In this project a 3D printed support has been created to allow the propagation of Physarum Polycephalum. The structure is inspired from the patterns that Slime Mould naturally creates while the holes have been specifically designed to allocate food sources. The living organism connects each one of those food sources through protoplasmatic veins.
Although Physarum Polycephalum does not have a nervous system, it can operate the best choice due to its remarkable problem-solving abilities making Physarum the best candidate as a type of simple control mechanism. This project, in collaboration with PhD Soft Robotics Filippo Sanzeni and Davin Browner Conaty, describes and investigates how Physarum Plycephalum can control a humanoid robot arm through the pulsations of its cell and how this system could interact with the Slime Mould harvested on the garment. Electrodes are applied to Physarum Polycephalum and the pulsation of its cell caught. This electrical signal triggers a response in the robotic arm.
The below experiment shows that it is possible to use Physarum Polycephalum as self-repairing wire to transport energy.
