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Ego Death
Justadropofwaterinanendlesssea



Registered: 04/27/03
Posts: 10,447
Loc: The War Machine
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Cyborg
#8771943 - 08/14/08 03:23 AM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080813/tts-science-health-neurobiology-brain-ro-c1b2fc3.html
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Meet Gordon, probably the world's first robot controlled exclusively by living brain tissue.
(Advertisement) Stitched together from cultured rat neurons, Gordon's primitive grey matter was designed at the University of Reading by scientists who unveiled the neuron-powered machine on Wednesday.
Their groundbreaking experiments explore the vanishing boundary between natural and artificial intelligence, and could shed light on the fundamental building blocks of memory and learning, one of the lead researchers told AFP.
"The purpose is to figure out how memories are actually stored in a biological brain," said Kevin Warwick, a professor at the University of Reading and one of the robot's principle architects.
Observing how the nerve cells cohere into a network as they fire off electrical impulses, he said, may also help scientists combat neurodegenerative diseases that attack the brain such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
"If we can understand some of the basics of what is going on in our little model brain, it could have enormous medical spinoffs," he said.
Looking a bit like the garbage-compacting hero of the blockbuster animation "Wall-E", Gordon has a brain composed of 50,000 to 100,000 active neurons.
Once removed from rat foetuses and disentangled from each other with an enzyme bath, the specialised nerve cells are laid out in a nutrient-rich medium across an eight-by-eight centimetre (five-by-five inch) array of 60 electrodes.
This "multi-electrode array" (MEA) serves as the interface between living tissue and machine, with the brain sending electrical impulses to drive the wheels of the robots, and receiving impulses delivered by sensors reacting to the environment.
Because the brain is living tissue, it must be housed in a special temperature-controlled unit -- it communicates with its "body" via a Bluetooth radio link.
The robot has no additional control from a human or computer.
From the very start, the neurons get busy. "Within about 24 hours, they start sending out feelers to each other and making connections," said Warwick.
"Within a week we get some spontaneous firings and brain-like activity" similar to what happens in a normal rat -- or human -- brain, he added.
But without external stimulation, the brain will wither and die within a couple of months.
"Now we are looking at how best to teach it to behave in certain ways," explained Warwick.
To some extent, Gordon learns by itself. When it hits a wall, for example, it gets an electrical stimulation from the robot's sensors. As it confronts similar situations, it learns by habit.
To help this process along, the researchers also use different chemicals to reinforce or inhibit the neural pathways that light up during particular actions.
Gordon, in fact, has multiple personalities -- several MEA "brains" that the scientists can dock into the robot.
"It's quite funny -- you get differences between the brains," said Warwick. "This one is a bit boisterous and active, while we know another is not going to do what we want it to."
Mainly for ethical reasons, it is unlikely that researchers at Reading or the handful of laboratories around the world exploring the same terrain will be using human neurons any time soon in the same kind of experiments.
But rats brain cells are not a bad stand-in: much of the difference between rodent and human intelligence, speculates Warwick, could be attributed to quantity not quality.
Rats brains are composed of about one million neurons, the specialised cells that relay information across the brain via chemicals called neurotransmitters.
Humans have 100 billion.
"This is a simplified version of what goes on in the human brain where we can look -- and control -- the basic features in the way that we want. In a human brain, you can't really do that," he said.
For colleague Ben Whalley, one of the fundamental questions facing scientists today is how to link the activity of individual neurons with the overwhelmingly complex behaviour of whole organisms.
"The project gives us a unique opportunity to look at something which may exhibit complex behaviours, but still remain closely tied to the activity of individual neurons," he said
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Nephlyte
Misfortunate One



Registered: 10/11/05
Posts: 1,025
Loc: South Texas
Last seen: 13 years, 8 months
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This is great news. Research in connecting the biological with the technological needs to get more attention.
I'm curious how these 'electrical stimulation' to the neurons when it hit a wall affected how it learned.
Did it want to hit the wall after that, or did steer away from the wall after that?
Perhaps it might be to primitive of a design to really hammer out issues like that, but its a great proof of concept.
-------------------- "To do right is to know what you want. Now when you are dissatisfied with yourself it's because you are after something you don't really want. What objects are you proposing to yourself? Are they the objects you really value? If they are not, you are cheating yourself. I don't meant that if you chose to pursue the objects you most value, you will attain them; of course not. Your experience will tell you that. But success in getting after much labor what you really don't care for is the bitterest and most ridiculous failure." -George Santayana
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Ogre812
Padawan Learner



Registered: 05/25/08
Posts: 1,763
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That is some scary ass stuff right there.
-------------------- Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither, and will lose both. ~ Benjamin Franklin ~ "Let me tell you about a Porcupine's balls. They're small, and they don't give a SHIT!" ~Danny~
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LuNaTiX
Quarterback




Registered: 07/28/03
Posts: 5,142
Last seen: 7 months, 3 days
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When are they going to make a CPU like this? I want a conscious computer!
but seriously, that is awesome news, this is the kind of shit I wanna see!
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psyka
Praetorian


Registered: 06/09/03
Posts: 1,652
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Re: Cyborg [Re: LuNaTiX]
#8777590 - 08/15/08 12:59 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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We've made a chip that uses neurons that "crystallizes" a unique network of interconnected paths. Mostly, this stuff is used for designed artificial intelligence algorithms. By translating the simple fundamental behavior of these still "primitive" neuron-based hardware we can digitize them into functions useful in computer programming. This stuff has been going on for awhile now, it just isn't super obvious; the advances are small, boring, unnoticeable until its all put together.
The result will be an alteration of what people think "consciousness" is. Artificial intelligence will be a milestone in human evolution, like writing and math was. With upcoming multi-cored processor, you'll soon see computers exhibiting personalities for you to interact with; and the crazy Japanese making artificial pets displaying unique behaviors (something to invest in :P).
-------------------- As the life of a candle, my wick will burn out. But, the fire of my mind shall beam into infinite.

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zouden
Neuroscientist


Registered: 11/12/07
Posts: 7,091
Loc: Australia
Last seen: 14 years, 7 months
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Re: Cyborg [Re: psyka]
#8778655 - 08/15/08 05:40 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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So you get a better result using real neurons than if you were to try and simulate the actions of a neuron? Interesting...
-------------------- I know... that just the smallest part of the world belongs to me You know... I'm not a blind man but truth is the hardest thing to see
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truekimbo2
Cya later, friends.



Registered: 12/08/02
Posts: 9,234
Loc: ny
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Re: Cyborg [Re: zouden]
#8779952 - 08/15/08 10:57 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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coolest shit i've seen since they had the rat brain hooked up to a flight simulator to see if it could learn to fly right.
-------------------- You can check the last post in my journal for contact info.
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Quote:
Ego Death said: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080813/tts-science-health-neurobiology-brain-ro-c1b2fc3.html
Quote:
laid out in a nutrient-rich medium across an eight-by-eight centimetre (five-by-five inch) array of 60 electrodes.
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