Today, it takes the form of a cartoon-like dog named Rity, developed at the Robot Intelligence Technology (RIT) Laboratory, at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

CNN: 'Sobots': Uncorking the robotic genie in a bottle

Now a group of researchers led by Lee Sang-yup of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology say they have come up with an even better way to make PLA, using the emerging science of synthetic biology.

ECONOMIST: Synthetic biology