Aug 13 2008Uh-Oh: Robot Controlled By Rat Brain Cells
Some idiotic scientists at Reading University have developed a robot that is controlled by rat brain cells. Run for your life!
The neurons are now being taught to steer the robot around obstacles and avoid the walls of the small pen in which it is kept. By studying what happens to the neurons as they learn its creators hope to reveal how memories are laid down.
As the cells are living tissue, they are kept separate from the robot in a temperature-controlled cabinet in a container pitted with electrodes. Signals are passed to and from the robot via Bluetooth short-range radio.The brain cells have been taught how to control the robot's movements so it can steer round obstacles and the next step, say its creators, is to get it to recognize its surroundings.
Apparently they then plan to disrupt the memories in an attempt to recreate Alzheimer's and Parkinson's like conditions. Now I'm all for the better understanding and curing of disease, but please, for the love of the human race, please be careful you crazy assholes! One time my mom found a rat in the basement and it was my job to try to beat it to death with a broom. You know what it did? The little f***er bit me. Now if he had been controlling a BigDog, I'd have been a goner. Just saying, have you ever seen The Matrix? I haven't, is it worth renting?
Hit the jump for a short video of the rat-brained robot in action.
Rat-brain robot aids memory studies [bbcnews]
Thanks to Dave, Herb, Martin, and Alex, all of whom are smart enough to realize this is not a good idea.
Reader Comments
1. Pat Popov - August 13, 2008 5:35 PM
Fake!
2. guate6 - August 13, 2008 5:42 PM
Neuron + chip technology has been around for at least a decade now...it's always evolving, always changing, and upgrading. They also use it for remote-control fighting machines for the army (or are doing research to be able to achieve this).
I liked The Matrix, though I know many others didn't. Eh, whatever. And I'm sure you were being sarcastic about it...I just wanted to put in my opinion.
3. acosta - August 13, 2008 5:43 PM
looks like I'll have to turn my zombie apocolypse kit into a robot apocolypse kit....
4. El Basto - August 13, 2008 5:46 PM
Apparently by now the only way to avoid the robot apocalypse it is to push the big glowing red button with our penises repeatedly, thus having a human Armageddon and not a robot one...
In your face robots! We don't need you to ruin our 5h!7 !
5. Vossk - August 13, 2008 5:55 PM
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
6. Neo - August 13, 2008 5:59 PM
The first one was so so but the sequels were amazing
7. OctoGooch - August 13, 2008 6:02 PM
i dont know about you jerks but aint no robo-rat-brain gonna scare me. this little son of a bitch is just now learning to steer around obstacles? its a good thing i can lay down a nice poop trail. try getting around that you stupid robo-assmaster!
8. Dr. Frankencooter - August 13, 2008 6:59 PM
Holy shit!
F*** the robot, did they say that they grew rat brains in a laboratory? And the brains controlled things?
WTF!?
9. iota1 - August 13, 2008 7:04 PM
Hey OctoGooch, I don't know if you play chess, but if you ever did, I bet you never thought more than one move ahead. Heres a heads up to what's up next, it looks somthing like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJDztqCG91g
10. Poore Richard - August 13, 2008 7:25 PM
Hahaha. Let me know when robots can begin creating robots that utilize brain cells without having been programmed to do so. Maybe then I'll be worried. Besides which, if means we're one step closer to robot prostitution, bring it on!!!
11. SmokingGirl - August 13, 2008 7:29 PM
*sigh*
The comments on all things "robot" proves to me my theory that men worry about the oddest things.
So far I've noticed the menfolk fearing:
Robots
Zombies
and of course Spiders/Snakes
Boys are silly.
12. El Basto - August 13, 2008 7:47 PM
I'm also afraid of smoke which, by extension, means I'm scared of you =(
Luckily my doubtfully loyal, soon to betray me and transform me into a manhorde, robot smokeproof army will protect me...
In your face Cartesian logic!
13. somuchbetter - August 14, 2008 1:20 AM
Wow. That is freaking AWESOME! Like who came up with that sorta shit.
14. Dr_Freak - August 14, 2008 6:10 AM
This reminds me of something...
"Put down your weapon, you have 30 seconds to comply..."
-Puts down gun
"Put down your weapon your have 20 seconds to comply..."
-looks at gun on ground, then back up at robot with that sinking feeling, i'm next
"You now have 10 seconds to comply..."
-just have time to shit pants before lead aided lobotomy/enima
15. spoon_platoon - August 14, 2008 6:11 AM
does this count as a cyborg? for does the bio part have to be human?
@11. did you say Spidersnake, man that shit sounds scare!!!!
16. Drew - August 14, 2008 7:58 AM
@15, I think you're on to something here. I ultimately hope that the robot doesn't remember suppressed memories while on the streets patrolling for bad guys.
17. Nando - August 14, 2008 8:07 AM
Pinky and The Brain... They'll soon take over the world.
18. Andrew - August 14, 2008 9:39 PM
I'm sort of on the same line of reasoning as Dr. Frankencooter. There are a couple of points that have really startling implications. One, that scientists grew rat brain cells in a lab (I don't study science and am probably really out of date). Two, that when the 'clump of neurons was connected to electrodes some parts of it were found to respond predictably to signals from the robots ultrasound distance center. The output signals from the cells are used to control the robots motor system.' Seems that neurons are controlling a robot of their own will.
Still, I think the scariest ideas are that someones growing brains and the idea of artificial intelligence. Neuro-machination is really only as scary as whatever the smartest brains are capable of, which are ours. But...a human brain controlling a giant robot is pretty scary...actually.
19. Joe - August 15, 2008 12:27 AM
Rats are some of the smartest and most emotionally aware animals in the world (the equal of dogs) and they shouldn't be experimented on like this. It's just cruel and wrong. Why don't the reasearchers just go ahead and stick a human brain in there? That's what their ultimate objective is anyway, right? This researcher is a tyrant and a mad scientist and should be arrested for endangering the future of the whole world.
20. Nrrrd Grrrl - August 15, 2008 4:10 PM
OMG! its finally happened they are making robots that will eventually take over the world and slaughter us all!!!! Now if you will excuse me, im going to hide under my covers.
21. WannaB - August 24, 2008 5:37 PM
Can any of you losers say 'no more lost human life doing truly dangerous jobs', or 'i never have to mow the lawn again?'...
I have to ask, why are you all reading these stories if you are just going to pee ur pants?
22. Robin - October 19, 2008 7:55 PM
They don't grow the brain in a lab! They take some neurons from a rat fetus, put them onto the robot and stimulate them with electric pulses. It only then becomes a "brain".
There's only a danger if people use a much bigger brain, with a more sophisticated robot, and teach them to kill... they'll be as dangerous as humans!
23. Psychosync - December 17, 2008 9:56 AM
As dangerous as humans who are made of metal, don't need to eat, sleep, or breath and are actually capable of upgrading their actual strength, yeah
24. Neil Berger - February 14, 2009 7:02 PM
I will notbelieve this until it has been indepdantly duplicated in someone elses lab.
25. Annie - March 8, 2009 2:40 AM
Hmmm...rats controlling robots?
Let's hope they don't have the brain capacity to remember who laid down which traps with the air being poisoned cheese just in case the little buggers got around the trap.
If they do - then I'll be worried.
26. Annie - March 8, 2009 2:40 AM
I mean 'bait' instead of 'air'. I dunno how that one slipped by me...
27. Wow - May 10, 2009 9:30 PM
Are you kidding? This robot is much less dangerous than a real rat, and rats are relatively dangerous. They can pretty much only bite you and/or infect you with a disease, this robot can do neither.
This is extremely exciting news as it is proof that neurons are capable of adapting to electronics that simulate the sensory inputs and motor outputs of the brain. With enough fine-tuning, a robot could be attached to a functioning brain of any animal, and would be intelligent, with the ability to make decisions based on what it has experienced, rather than what we have told it to do (traditional experience).
But before you start preparing for the Terminator, remember that safeguards could easily be placed on the robots, ensuring that it would never harm humans. Or, if for some strange reason, that were impossible, we could make it capable of deactivating remotely.
A robot invasion is far from likely. The only thing you have to fear from AI is it replacing your jobs.
28. Wow - May 10, 2009 9:33 PM
I'm sorry, I meant relatively SAFE (not dangerous) and traditional PROGRAMMING (not experience). I need some sleep.
29. Gorbechev - May 10, 2009 9:49 PM
@ 19 and 25: This is not a rat controlling a robot. It is a cluster of rat brain cells controlling a robot. These brain cells have not been arranged in the same way as in a rat's brain (no lobes, etc). A rat would be much more intelligent than this robot. You can't think of it as a rat at all. The robot and the neurons would have no more cognition than it would if bacteria were controlling the robot.
The only people who believe that this could be threatening to the human race are those who do not fully understand it. As Robin (22) said, the only way an artificially (or naturally) intelligent robot could ever attack or harm a human is if it were programmed to do so, or if it were programmed without any "laws" and learned that hurting humans was best for its goals. Neither of those scenarios would ever occur unless the designer intended for the artificially intelligent robot to be a weapon. If you believe that to be a possibility, you should fear nuclear devices much more, as they already exist and are already in the hands of evil men.
30. Izy - August 2, 2009 5:07 AM
OMG, those idiots!! they're working on Cybermen technology, doesn't any1 learn anything from scifi anymore???