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Robot Controlled By Rat Brain

Posted by samzenpus on from the we're-gonna-need-a-smarter-trap dept.

kkleiner writes "Kevin Warwick, once a cyborg and still a researcher in cybernetics at the University of Reading, has been working on creating biological neural networks that can control machines. He and his team have taken the brain cells from rats, cultured them, and used them as the guidance control circuit for simple wheeled robots. Electrical impulses from the bot enter the batch of neurons, and responses from the cells are turned into commands for the device. The cells can form new connections, making the system a true learning machine."

14 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. I for one would like to take this opportunity... by JeffSpudrinski · · Score: 5, Funny

    to greet our new rat overlords.

  2. Re:I for one would like to take this opportunity.. by msauve · · Score: 4, Funny

    "The same thing we do every day, Pinky, try to take over the world!"

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  3. Christine O'Donnell Was Right! by chill · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, not really, but it is as close as she is going to get on any subject.

    http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/odonnell-in-2007-scientists-have-created-mice-with-human-brains.php

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  4. Misleading title should say "... Rat Brain Cells" by chemicaldave · · Score: 5, Informative

    Brain cells, and an entire brain (especially a mammal's) are two separate beasts.

  5. True learning machine? by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If it uses living cells from a rat brain, then it's not really a machine.

  6. Re:Misleading title should say "... Rat Brain Cell by tverbeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Separate beasts" is a bit of a muddled metaphor in this instance.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  7. Sentient cells? by Twinbee · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What doesn't seem too clear after listening to the videos is why the rat's cells wouldn't want to crash the robot it's controlling, into the wall. Did the scientists program that in (perhaps wall crashes give the cells some kind of negative electrical stimulation), or did the cells have a mind of its own on that front?

    The difference is subtle because it means we have either a 'mere' replacement for computer chips, or potentially much more - a sentient clump of cells which want the 'best' for the robot it's controlling.

    --
    Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
    1. Re:Sentient cells? by golden+age+villain · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I was wondering the same and honestly it seems fishy to me. There is no such thing as a negative electrical stimulation for neurons. Granted there is inhibition by GABA and some other neuromodulators. So unless they drop something on the tissue to induce some sort of learning, I simply don't see why any coherent behavior would emerge since there is no "motivation" to behave in one way rather than the other. From the wall-avoidance behavior video, my guess is that the sensors continuously feed the network until they detect a surface and then stop. In that case, the behavior would be hard-coded in the sensors and not in the network.

    2. Re:Sentient cells? by EdZ · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's a SLNN (Self-Learning Neural Network) with actual neurons rather than virtual ones. You don't 'program' the cells, you provide inputs and 'reward' the correct output to those inputs, and let the neurons iteratively learn the correct weights in between.

  8. Mad Scientist by locallyunscene · · Score: 4, Funny

    *Cackles Maniacally*

    Now go, my ratbots. Go and wheel your way into the glorious future, heralding humanity's DOOM!

    *More Evil Laughter*

  9. Guy Ben-Ary was doing this five years ago by ChrisCampbell47 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Guy Ben-Ary is an artist who did a residency at the SymbioticA Research Lab at the University of Western Australia and then at the Potter Lab at Georgia Tech. During that time he created a system where a culture of rat brain neurons controlled a robotic pen controller to draw "art". Further, the two components (brain and arm) were geographically separated and communicated across the internet.

    MEART: The Semi Living Artist

    http://web.mit.edu/shkolnik/www/meart/

    http://www.fishandchips.uwa.edu.au/

    --
    One simple rule for its versus it's
  10. Re:I for one would like to take this opportunity.. by mcgrew · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here's a rat cyborg who used to be our overlord. As to cyborgs, Warwick was never a cyborg. Implanting a chip that does nothing whatever doesn't make you a cyborg, but a pacemaker does. To be a cyborg you have to have a device implanted in your body that aids in the body's function; a pacemaker, an artificial hip or knee, a cochlear implant, an accomodating IOL, etc. Implanting a chip that does nothing is just stupid.

    Your grandma's probably a real cyborg.

    --
    Free Martian Whores!
  11. Re:Robot Controlled by Rat Brain by slim · · Score: 4, Informative

    I followed some links. http://journals.pepublishing.com/content/b31654739h7nk726/

    The cells are harvested from a rat foetus. They're grown in a special vessel, where they're in contact with an array of electrodes. They spontaneously arrange themselves into a neural network. The difficult part is training that network to do anything useful.

  12. Excellent! by bratwiz · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now we have a viable alternative for politicians.

    (And they can make their own robo-calls too! :-)