Xenobot, the world\'s first biological robot, puts numerous philosophical riddles before us. One among them pertains to the cognitive status of these entities. Are these biological robots cognitive? To evaluate the cognitive status of xenobots and to resolve the puzzle of a single mind emerging from smaller sub-units, in this article, I juxtapose the cognitive capacities of xenobots with that of two other minimal models of cognition, i.e., basal cognition and nonliving active matter cognition. Further, the article underlines the essential cognitive capabilities that xenobots need to achieve to enter what I call stage 1 of xenobotic cognition. Stage 1 is characterized by numerous cognitive mechanisms, which are integral for the survival and cognition of basal organisms. Finally, I suggest that developing xenobots that can reach Stage 1 can help us achieve sophistication in the areas of evolution of the human mind, robotics, biology and medicine, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Advances in science and engineering often reveal the limitations of classical approaches initially used to understand, predict, and control phenomena. With progress, conceptual categories must often be re-evaluated to better track recently discovered invariants across disciplines. It is essential to refine frameworks and resolve conflicting boundaries between disciplines such that they better facilitate, not restrict, experimental approaches and capabilities. In this essay, we address specific questions and critiques which have arisen in response to our research program, which lies at the intersection of developmental biology, computer science, and robotics. In the context of biological machines and robots, we explore changes across concepts and previously distinct fields that are driven by recent advances in materials, information, and life sciences. Herein, each author provides their own perspective on the subject, framed by their own disciplinary training. We argue that as with computation, certain aspects of developmental biology and robotics are not tied to specific materials; rather, the consilience of these fields can help to shed light on issues of multiscale control, self-assembly, and relationships between form and function. We hope new fields can emerge as boundaries arising from technological limitations are overcome, furthering practical applications from regenerative medicine to useful synthetic living machines.

In recent years, RNA interference technology has been extensively studied for its therapeutic potential against a wide variety of diseases. It aims to silence the expression of undesired genes associated with the target disease by the administration of RNA interference agents. However, these agents (nucleic acids) are unstable in the circulatory system and lack target specificity. Drug delivery systems are, therefore, crucial for the successful practice of the technique. A wide array of delivery systems has been developed to conquer these challenges, such as viral vectors, inorganic drug carriers, polymeric carriers and lipid-based carriers, with, however, significant limitations. In addition to the existing technologies, novel, innovative drug delivery systems, such as the configurable xenobot, are emerging at a rapid pace and have the potential to take the realm of biomedicine to the next level. This review summarizes technical difficulties in the development of drug delivery systems and current technologies developed for delivering RNAi agents with a discussion on their limitations.