Among the many strange robot designs in the past, a new contender has emerged as the world’s first robot powered by a real human brain, making it more human-like than ever.
Researchers from Tianjin University and Southern University of Science and Technology have managed to control the robot’s movements, such as tracking, grasping, and obstacle avoidance, using what they call “mini-brains.”
These miniature brains are not taken from human bodies but rather grown in labs for research purposes and then integrated into robots.
The researchers have utilized living organisms to create “brains on a chip,” which provide some intelligence to the robot’s brain but require assistance for full functionality.
Through the integration of these chips, scientists can debug the brain, send signals externally, and control specific functions like grasping in robots.
Professor Min Dong, Vice President of Tianjin University, explains that this brain-computer interface on a chip combines ex vivo cultured brains with electrode chips to interact with the outside world through encoding, decoding, and stimulation feedback.
With the brain chip, robots can perform tasks like tracking targets, avoiding obstacles, and learning to move their arms using electrical signals fed by the chips.
While robots do not have a human appearance, their brains process information through electrical signals from the chips. Training in simulated environments is possible, but understanding the real world remains a complex challenge.
The brain chip, known as MetaBOC, was developed as an open-source project and has been used in various experiments, including one where Neanderthal DNA was used to create mini-brains for robot control.
The latest research on robot-brain interaction focuses on utilizing ball-shaped organoids to create a more complex neural network for the brain-on-a-chip to function effectively.
Additionally, artificial intelligence algorithms have been integrated to enhance the robot’s capabilities through its mini-brain.
Although the advancements are groundbreaking, there is still progress to be made, with the current brain inside the robot being a model while the actual brain tissue is kept separate for testing purposes.
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Source: www.sciencefocus.com
