ADVANCED NEURO-ROBOTICS

1. ‘Robo Rat' project

United States scientists from SUNY Downstate Medical Centre have reported on a Robo Rat project that they have initiated. In a research paper published in Nature (May, 2002) they describe some of their remarkable results. It may soon be possible, we are told, that because of their researches, a remote-controlled living ‘Robo Rat' could be involved in numerous and varied applications. Their work is a spin-off from research to give paralysed people the ability to move and feel artificial limbs. The report of the project presents their findings and described how five rats carrying a special backpack, which contained a battery, radio receiver and brain stimulator, were controlled by a human operator sitting up to 500 yards away. The human operator was able to make them weave in and out of obstacles and navigated them over a course. Instead of using the traditional methods ofanimal training which associated behaviour with rewards, the researchers directly stimulated the parts of the animals' brains that responded to the movements of their whiskers and to receiving rewards of food. Electrical signals were sent to parts of the brain and provided a virtual contact to the animal's whiskers, showing them which way the operator wished them to go. In their research paper it is shown how by stimulaling these ‘whisker centres' the rats could be steered and by stimulating the brain's reward centre, they could reinforce the correct behaviour.