Sunday, August 24, 2008 | Reason : In the News | print version

Robot with a Biological Brain: new research provides insights into how the brain works

by PhysOrg

Thanks to SPS for the link.

http://www.physorg.com/news137852322.html

Robot with a Biological Brain: new research provides insights into how the brain works

(PhysOrg.com) -- A multidisciplinary team at the University of Reading has developed a robot which is controlled by a biological brain formed from cultured neurons. This cutting edge research is the first step to examine how memories manifest themselves in the brain, and how a brain stores specific pieces of data. The key aim is that eventually this will lead to a better understanding of development and of diseases and disorders which affect the brain such as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, stroke and brain injury.

The robot's biological brain is made up of cultured neurons which are placed onto a multi electrode array (MEA). The MEA is a dish with approximately 60 electrodes which pick up the electrical signals generated by the cells. This is then used to drive the movement of the robot.

Every time the robot nears an object, signals are directed to stimulate the brain by means of the electrodes. In response, the brain's output is used to drive the wheels of the robot, left and right, so that it moves around in an attempt to avoid hitting objects. The robot has no additional control from a human or a computer, its sole means of control is from its own brain.

The researchers are now working towards getting the robot to learn by applying different signals as it moves into predefined positions. It is hoped that as the learning progresses, it will be possible to witness how memories manifest themselves in the brain when the robot revisits familiar territory.

Professor Kevin Warwick from the School of Systems Engineering, said: "This new research is tremendously exciting as firstly the biological brain controls its own moving robot body, and secondly it will enable us to investigate how the brain learns and memorises its experiences. This research will move our understanding forward of how brains work, and could have a profound effect on many areas of science and medicine."

Dr Ben Whalley from the School of Pharmacy, said: "One of the fundamental questions that scientists are facing today is how we link the activity of individual neurons with the complex behaviours that we see in whole organisms. This project gives us a really unique opportunity to look at something which may exhibit complex behaviours, but still remain closely tied to the activity of individual neurons. Hopefully we can use that to go some of the way to answer some of these very fundamental questions. "

Provided by University of Reading

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1. Comment #236387 by DamnDirtyApe on August 24, 2008 at 2:56 pm

Ah, Kevin Warwick... I love that crazy guy. Looks like his folks are doing some interesting work.

Hmm.. what kind of sensors are they on that little robot? Are they ultrasonics or infrareds or something like that? Its very cool how they're able to get feed from real sensors hooked into real live neurons these days.

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2. Comment #236399 by Serdan on August 24, 2008 at 3:11 pm

Ape,

The science guy said sonar sensors.

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3. Comment #236436 by DamnDirtyApe on August 24, 2008 at 3:41 pm

Ah. Damn my feeble mass of neurons. :p

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4. Comment #236451 by OhioLen on August 24, 2008 at 3:57 pm

My question: if "cultured neurons" have the ability to learn, does that include the ability to replicate in order to accommodate increasingly complex neural relationships?

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5. Comment #236454 by Nova on August 24, 2008 at 4:01 pm

I got a tremendous sense of awe when they actually showed the robot moving, to think that robot there is controlled by a massively simplified version of how I think.

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6. Comment #236465 by J Mac on August 24, 2008 at 4:36 pm

As long as they have a robot body to stick my brain in before I get too old.

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7. Comment #236476 by HappyPrimate on August 24, 2008 at 4:47 pm

Fscinating. I hope they continue to get more positive results with this research.

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8. Comment #236480 by NewEnglandBob on August 24, 2008 at 5:00 pm

. Comment #236454 by Nova:

... to think that robot there is controlled by a massively simplified version of how I think.

This is too easy of a target, so I will pass and let your minds wander on what I could have said here.

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9. Comment #236482 by JimmyGiro on August 24, 2008 at 5:15 pm

Captain cyborg rides again. I bet his research students and post-docs were all hiding in the corridor trying desperately to stifle their guffaws when ever the mighty Warwick drummed up more research funding flimflam.

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10. Comment #236490 by bslatner on August 24, 2008 at 5:34 pm

Reminds me a bit of TIM from The Tomorrow People. Next we'll all be jaunting around the country side with stun guns.

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11. Comment #236512 by Border Collie on August 24, 2008 at 6:13 pm

I was thinking poor, little retarded robot ... only a few neurons to think with ...

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12. Comment #236519 by J Mac on August 24, 2008 at 6:21 pm

"I was thinking poor, little retarded robot ... only a few neurons to think with ... "

Yet IT wont demand equal time in a class room to rant about how it was designed by an intelligent creator.

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13. Comment #236570 by dr joneZ on August 24, 2008 at 8:02 pm

All brains are merely the substrate on which computations are run. A few neurons evolutionarily speaking is that much better than bugger all neurons. Future brains in this kind of robot will doubtless have neurons where all of us presently have but bum fluff

What is really being constructed here is MIND, everybody. A huge experiment with an outcome surely of interest on the scale of the LHC. Whether the mind turns out to be human or not will be interesting. Better media in the future will mean better substrate and more neurons

We are fast approaching the singularity - in the Kurzweillien sense. The moment when we understand mind just in time to see it accelerate past us

The mind runs on patterns of recognition. It's like rain falling on a landscape or hot globs of ink falling on a jelly mould. A depression or impact site will then have a channelling effect for all subsequent impacts. Memory is a landscape of patterns that actually govern not only what a conscious creature does (as in the robot reacting to its environment) but in what the conscious creature SEES (as in "error" and the learning effect of the mistake.)

Very soon there will be - probably as a consequence of this research - a memory chip the size of a molecule - that can be injected into your brain - will accelerate your thinking up to a trillion times.

What sort of world will that give birth to?

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14. Comment #236643 by Rawhard Dickins on August 25, 2008 at 1:29 am

And there are those who think our brains alone are not capable of producing our behaviour.

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15. Comment #236652 by Laurie Fraser on August 25, 2008 at 2:28 am

Very soon there will be - probably as a consequence of this research - a memory chip the size of a molecule - that can be injected into your brain - will accelerate your thinking up to a trillion times.

Excellent, dr joneZ! I vote we inject the first one into Joe Morreale - it might get him up to about spider monkey level.

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16. Comment #236657 by DamnDirtyApe on August 25, 2008 at 2:57 am

I wonder what point sentience occurs. I wonder if there is something like a kind of 'critical mass' where bam, it's got the type of connectivity and overall processing power to make complex decisions about itself, and gain the loosely defined feeling of self awareness.

I do worry about the quasi-religiosity of the singularity, but I've no doubt that making an artificial sentient being is going to happen. And soon.

We just have to make sure that people don't start worshiping them as gods. That would be so disappointing. Voltaire might have been amused though.

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17. Comment #236662 by BillySands on August 25, 2008 at 3:09 am

here's one for the theologians to waste time on - do robots with biological brains have souls?

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18. Comment #236668 by Laurie Fraser on August 25, 2008 at 3:31 am

I don't think they can, Billy, as they were created by imperfect, material humans, as distinct from a perfect, metaphysical being that, er, doesn't exist. (And that's a prerequisite for having a soul, apparently.)

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19. Comment #236682 by skip on August 25, 2008 at 4:31 am

This was probably the most interesting article I have seen on this site. I just love robots and to think we can use brain cells to direct them is utterly amazing.

Good story

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20. Comment #236705 by Byrnie on August 25, 2008 at 6:17 am

Do you think it'll dream of electric sheep?

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21. Comment #236707 by Ishruul on August 25, 2008 at 6:20 am

We're one step away from Robocop it seem.

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22. Comment #236708 by Fanusi Khiyal on August 25, 2008 at 6:22 am

This'll end well.

Don't these guys watch enough science fiction? The next thing you know they'll wheel in Davros.

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23. Comment #236711 by Ishruul on August 25, 2008 at 6:47 am

Better yet! Add some nanotechnology and we'll get Borgs.

Edit: Resistance is futile, just like the Muslim's motto.

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24. Comment #236744 by wonder on August 25, 2008 at 8:59 am

the most interesting part for me would be a more in-depth discussion of this one critical part of the video where he talks about how the neurons communicate with the sensors:

"that electrical activity goes through fairly complex processing steps..." to control the robot.

what i'm mainly wondering is, what elements of the "processing steps" give rise to goals? what do the neurons "work towards"? not high-level goals, of course, but in order to do useful, directed work and "learn" the neurons would need to organize their signals around some goal, avoid or seek a pattern of input of some kind. i wonder how that's implemented. fascinating stuff.

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25. Comment #236762 by Adam Morrison on August 25, 2008 at 9:43 am

This is just the first step to ... ROBO NIXON!!!

Dun dun duuuuuhhhhh

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26. Comment #236785 by Ishruul on August 25, 2008 at 10:14 am

24. Comment #236744 by wonder

what i'm mainly wondering is, what elements of the "processing steps" give rise to goals? what do the neurons "work towards"? not high-level goals, of course, but in order to do useful, directed work and "learn" the neurons would need to organize their signals around some goal, avoid or seek a pattern of input of some kind. i wonder how that's implemented. fascinating stuff.

Well it isn't that complicated, the brain is just like a really advance computer hard drive (keep in mind not a perfect one) and all the interaction of the neurons give birth to somewhat of a software program.

The brain got a 'DOS' program wich manage bodily fonctions and also some self-writing-learning programs to asset the environnement in wich we interact.

The only real challenge neuro-biologist-cyber-engineer really got to solve before we can all be terminator-like-cyborg (sci-fi imagery if you like) is to crack the neurons language. Because it is conflicting with the binary used by modern computer.

Still I could just be babbling crap as usual :)

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27. Comment #236825 by eellerto on August 25, 2008 at 12:04 pm

I just read this article in New Scientist which goes into a little more detail. What I understood from this is that when the robot's ultrasound sensor is activated with an object, like a wall, it sends this signal, via Bluetooth (the culture has to be kept in a sterile incubator), to the culture. This electrical signal stimulates the "brain" culture at a particular voltage. If the same cluster of cells repeatedly fire when they receive this signal over and over, then the firing of that cluster of cells can eventually, through a feedback loop, direct the robot to do something else when it senses a wall, like turn. It's pretty mindblowing. If they could somehow figure out how memories are stored from all of this, I'd be happy.

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28. Comment #236830 by J Mac on August 25, 2008 at 12:13 pm

"I wonder what point sentience occurs."

It doesn't.

That's like tracing the history of abiogenesis and evolution and asking at what point life occurs.

You can define life or sentience as some arbitrary qualifying characteristics so you can draw a line somewhere, but there is no significant change between the thing right before the line and the organism right after the line. It's just arbitrary.

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29. Comment #236834 by popecorkyxxiv on August 25, 2008 at 12:20 pm

Deus Ex Machina! The future has come. I cannot wait to go all Ghost in the Shell, clinical immortality is almost here. Can you imagine what the world will be like after the post-human revolution.

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30. Comment #236849 by Ishruul on August 25, 2008 at 12:59 pm

I'll be on the robot's side!

Hail the All-Metal Lord!!!!

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31. Comment #236852 by thewhitepearl on August 25, 2008 at 1:11 pm

I'm surprised that Terat hasn't been around with prophecies of his sexbots.

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32. Comment #236855 by Quetzalcoatl on August 25, 2008 at 1:16 pm

thewhitepearl-

I read about this in New Scientist. Tera's probably staying quiet since the neurons being used to power the robots are from rats: rat-brained sexbots are probably not how he envisions things.

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33. Comment #236857 by thewhitepearl on August 25, 2008 at 1:24 pm

Quetz-

I see the issue you are raising, although I'm sure he would think the neurons from rats are a step up from actual human neurons.

Most of us after all, are not as perfect as he is.

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34. Comment #236861 by Quetzalcoatl on August 25, 2008 at 1:28 pm

thewhitepearl-

Most of us after all, are not as perfect as he is.

One day, if I study really hard and improve myself.....

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35. Comment #236868 by robotaholic on August 25, 2008 at 1:36 pm

ROBO-ANYTHING- The Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity ...SAYS..... that .....well...

here play with this internet robot - it's fun! - she's quite awesome srsly (lolomfgbbq)

http://alice.pandorabots.com/

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36. Comment #236869 by thewhitepearl on August 25, 2008 at 1:36 pm

One day, if I study really hard and improve myself.....

And invest in a good bike oh and you would have to
stop visiting the pub, or alcohol all together.

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37. Comment #236871 by Quetzalcoatl on August 25, 2008 at 1:38 pm

And invest in a good bike oh and you would have to
stop visiting the pub, or alcohol all together

Hmm. This is starting to sound less appealing.

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38. Comment #236877 by thewhitepearl on August 25, 2008 at 1:47 pm

Speaking of fake women-

I saw one of the BBC Reveals episodes and it was about men who buy and are in a "relationship" with those life-sized, life like dolls.

They weren't inexpensive either.

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39. Comment #236878 by Quetzalcoatl on August 25, 2008 at 1:50 pm

- Shudders -

Yes, I heard about that. Disturbing on pretty much every level.

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40. Comment #236885 by thewhitepearl on August 25, 2008 at 1:54 pm

One man said "In the beginning it was all about sex, and fulfilling that need but now I really do care about her"

[big disgusted sigh]

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41. Comment #236886 by robotaholic on August 25, 2008 at 1:56 pm

Every time the robot nears an object, signals are directed to stimulate the brain

wow, words to a song!

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42. Comment #236889 by Quetzalcoatl on August 25, 2008 at 1:58 pm

thewhitepearl-

It might sound uncharitable, but I do find men like that to be pretty pathetic.

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43. Comment #236894 by thewhitepearl on August 25, 2008 at 2:03 pm

Quetz

I agree. I couldn't even finish watching it because I started to feel sickly perverted and pathetic myself.

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44. Comment #236901 by Quetzalcoatl on August 25, 2008 at 2:06 pm

thewhitepearl-

Since we're talking about weird things like this- there was a trailer for a programme on UK TV about women who were in love with inanimate objects. I was half-tempted to watch, but when it cut to one woman proclaiming that a section of wooden fence was "an amazing lover"- well, suddenly I found better things to do with my time.

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45. Comment #236914 by thewhitepearl on August 25, 2008 at 2:18 pm

Quetz-

Oh come on, why do you think girls are so willing to climb over them?

That is by far one of the weirdest inanimate sexual object I've heard of.

Its..so..disturbing.

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46. Comment #236916 by Quetzalcoatl on August 25, 2008 at 2:22 pm

That is by far one of the weirdest inanimate sexual object I've heard of.

Its..so..disturbing.

Check this out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2074301/Woman-with-objects-fetish-marries-Eiffel-Tower.html

AND she lives in San Francisco!

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47. Comment #236923 by thewhitepearl on August 25, 2008 at 2:27 pm

Had to be San Francisco huh?

Wonder what Mrs.Eiffel's sex life is like.

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48. Comment #236928 by Quetzalcoatl on August 25, 2008 at 2:28 pm

Wonder what Mrs.Eiffel's sex life is like.

She complains that her partner seems a little rusty.

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49. Comment #236930 by Goldy on August 25, 2008 at 2:29 pm

Quetz, TWP
I remember reading of a guy called George (I think) who was in love with his Austin Metro. Used to fantasise about its slightly vibrating exhaust pipe when it idled. Rather interesting...

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50. Comment #236934 by thewhitepearl on August 25, 2008 at 2:37 pm

She complains that her partner seems a little rusty.

At least her partner can stay hard.

Goldy,

Ummm...Someone should tell that guy to make sure and never do anything you would be embarrassed to tell the paramedics.

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