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Mushroom 'Robot' Is Just A Start

A kind of mushroom "robot" has been introduced to the world, but most of the world doubts whether or not mushrooms have any sense of directed movement.

Vernor Vinge was an early example of science fiction writers concerned enoug about a alien races to try to help them. In his 1992 novel A Fire Upon the Deep, a plant-like species is given mobility by a race gifted in the use of robotics:

Ravna looked across the surf. When the waves backed down the sand, she could see the Skroderiders' fronds peeping out of the spray... They sat in the surf, thinking thoughts that left no imprint on their minds...

Then some unknown race had chanced upon the dreamers and decided to "help them out." Someone had put them on mobile platforms, the skrodes. With wheels they could move along the seashores, could reach and manipulate with their fronds and tendrils. With the skrode's mechanical short-term memory, they could learn fast enough that their new mobility would not kill them...

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