What Is It Like to Be a Robot?

Background To The Technology

The intelligent controlling mechanism of a typical mobile robot is usually a computer or microprocessor system. Research is however now ongoing in which biological neuronal networks are being cultured and trained to act as the brain of a real world robot – either completely replacing or operating in tandem with a computer system. Studying such neuronal systems can help study biological neural structures in general and has immediate medical implications in terms of insights into problems such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease. Other linked research meanwhile is aimed at assessing the learning capacity of such neuronal networks. To do this a hybrid system has been created incorporating control of a mobile wheeled robot solely by a culture of neurons – a biological brain.