Xenobots, named after the clawed frog (Xenopus laevis),[1] are synthetic lifeforms that are designed by computers to perform some desired function and built by combining together different biological tissues.

The shape of a xenobot's body, and its distribution of skin and heart cells, are automatically designed in simulation to perform a specific task, using a process of trial and error (an evolutionary algorithm).

Xenobots have been designed to walk, swim, push pellets, carry payloads, and work together in a swarm to aggregate debris scattered along the surface of their dish into neat piles.

[9] An RNA molecule can also be introduced to xenobots to give them molecular memory: if exposed to specific kind of light during behavior, they will glow a prespecified color when viewed under a fluorescence microscope.

They move using energy from fat and protein naturally stored in their tissue, which lasts about a week, at which point they simply turn into dead skin cells.