Researchers at the University of Reading in England have developed robot, named Gordon, who relies on a dish with about 60 electrodes to pick up electrical signals generated by a biological brain made of rat neurons. When Gordon detects an object, signals are directed to stimulate the brain by means of the electrodes, in response, the brain's output drives the robot's wheels left and right, so that it moves to avoid hitting the object.
"One of the fundamental questions that scientists are facing today is how we link the activity of individual neurons with the complex behaviors that we see in whole organisms," said Ben Whalley, a pharmacist at the university and member of the team that built Gordon. "This project gives us a really unique opportunity to look at something which may exhibit complex behaviors, 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."
Livescience.com article.
"One of the fundamental questions that scientists are facing today is how we link the activity of individual neurons with the complex behaviors that we see in whole organisms," said Ben Whalley, a pharmacist at the university and member of the team that built Gordon. "This project gives us a really unique opportunity to look at something which may exhibit complex behaviors, 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."
Livescience.com article.
