Ancient marine organism revived as a soft-bodied robot

Researchers have created a soft robotic replica of pleurocystitids, a marine organism that lived 450 million years ago, using fossil evidence. This new field of study, called paleobionics, aims to understand the biomechanical factors that drove evolution by using soft robotics. The team used computational simulations and 3D printed elements to mimic the flexible structure of the organism's appendage. They discovered that pleurocystitids likely moved by sweeping motions and that increasing the length of their stem increased their speed without requiring more energy. This breakthrough opens up possibilities for studying extinct organisms and learning more about the history of life on Earth.