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Rat-Brained Robots Take Their First Steps

missb writes "Brain tissue cultured from rats has controlled a wheeled robot around a lab, according to New Scientist this week. Researchers in the UK have harnessed signals from thousands of disembodied rat neurons, and manipulated them to get a robot to respond to instructions. The team at the University of Reading in the UK hope their research will help provide treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's and epilepsy."

6 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. Names please. by snspdaarf · · Score: 5, Funny

    What was the lead researcher's name? Davros?

    --
    Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
  2. this is old news by iXiXi · · Score: 5, Funny

    We have had these running around here for years. We just called them MBA's.

  3. Re:What in the... by Red+Flayer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Am I the only one who fails to see how these rodent zombie robots have anything to do with Alzheimer's?

    Perhaps you could try RTFAing, then applying some logical thought.

    They're studying how disassociated nerons make new connections and can be trained to reliably respond to stimuli, and how that response can be used to create predictable behavior.

    Now go ahead STFW for the pathophysiology of Alzheimers, and it's pretty easy to see how this could be useful in understanding Alzheimers, and perhaps in (eventually, with a lot of steps inbetween) help either prevent it, delay its onset, or reverse it.

    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  4. Re:Rat-Brained overlords by colmore · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just because White Man's Science has yet to be stricken down by the angered Old Gods doesn't mean it won't.

    --
    In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
  5. Where have all the good people gone? by OxFF52 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I found this article... then checked Slashdot.

    Where have all the intelligent slashdotters gone? Let's all STOP trying to come up with the funniest one-liner and talk about the subject at hand here.

    They have taken brain cells and taught them to control a robot. This is simply freakin' astounding!

    What else has been done related to this such as MEMS? Anyone?

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    programming myself into obsolescence
  6. Re:Rat-Brained overlords by xaositects · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't forget:

    Phn'glui M'gl wna'f, Cthulhu R'lyeh Wgha Nagl Ftaghn