Plants and animals have a distinct ability to heal themselves. Life depends on it. Until recently, this was one thing machines couldn’t do. Now, adaptive algorithms can treat failures, hurdles, and surprises by modifying existing algorithms while maintaining the original goal. Now, self-healing materials can repair small cracks. About the only major repair machines can’t make is the equivalent of regrowing detached limbs – and that may just be a matter of time.
“Resilient Robot Recovers Instinctively” – Scientific American
Pretending Not To Panic 