A Robot's Biological Brain built out of Rat Neurons!

Scientists from the University of Reading have built a robot's biological brain with rat neurons. The robot's controller is situated inside a small dish containing a pink broth of nutrients and antibiotics. Inside that pot, some 300,000 rat neurons have made and are still making connections with each other. They do this by sending and communicating electrical signals to one another just as they do so in any living organism.

The neurons automatic drive to communicate and connect may be an indication of how sturdy brain cells are; researcher Steve Potter, who has been involved in similar experiments, says that "brain cells have evolved to reconnect under almost any circumstance that doesn't kill them".

The Robot, who has been nicknamed Gordon, can learn a behavior to a certain extent. For example, when it hits a wall, it gets electrical stimulation from the sensors. The robot learns by habit, and the next time it approaches a wall, it avoids hitting the wall. So far, Gordon has avoided the hit 8 out of 10 times, and researchers believe the strength of its signals gets stronger as the action is repeated.

But researchers stress that it is an extremely simplified version of what happens in a human brain. While Gordon has only 300,000 rat neurons; a human brain has about 100 billion neurons. Researchers believe they will make use of this robot's biological brain to understand what goes wrong with neurons when they are affected by Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.