Cyborg Uses Rat Brain Cells to Control Robot

[dragontiers]

Okay, I was reading the article when the Dr. Who theme song popped up on my iPod. Coincidence, or warning from the future? Forget Cylons, I'm looking out for Daleks and Cybermen.

 

[Ghengis John]

While I approve of what improvements in bio-mechanical interfaces could mean in the real of prosthetic limbs there's something I find about this machine that seems kind of tragic.

 

[Dexiro]

Robots already?

Hmm, well, let's just hope that a company called "Skynet" doesn't try and make robots...

Still, it's pretty cool.

You say that like their haven't been thousands of robots already

 

[Argtee]

Robots already?

Hmm, well, let's just hope that a company called "Skynet" doesn't try and make robots...

Still, it's pretty cool.

You say that like their haven't been thousands of robots already

Well, the only robot that I remember hearing about is this one and it fell down the stairs...

Still, I don't think we've had any robots with rat brains
Next thing you know, they'll be robots with HUMAN BRAINS!

 

[Simalacrum]

Hey look! It's my home town! They've been doing this particular project for years now!

Woooh! Go Reading!

[sub]Even though I'm at the University of Manchester now... >.>[/sub]

 

[Sir_Tor]

" the Warwicks were the first humans to communicate completely through electronic signals sent via their nervous systems."

Wait what?

 

[Kuchinawa212]

*sigh*
great our overlords love cheese. I guess we can use that against them

 

[Olorune]

*cough*Robotnik!*cough*-I mean...uhh...good job!

 

[Remissus]

This is pretty freaking awesome! Honestly, to think how far humanity has come. :O We're now on the verge of creating robots that can learn and think in earnest. Can't wait to see what this dude does next.

 

[ImprovizoR]

Didn't we learn nothing from movies like Terminator and Matrix? Or from video games like Mass Effect? AI=evil!

 

[TriggerUnhappy]

So Skynet's gonna be run by rats?

 

[GLo Jones]

My dreams are slowly coming true. The day I can have my brain transplanted into a mechanical device, and live forever, is the day I've wanted for at least half my life.

 

[kingcom]

And I for one support our new robot overlords....

 

[kingcom]

Why is it that scientists are obsessed with crazy shit like this?

They're like that little kid that just sits and pokes a dog, to see how many times they can do it before getting their hand bit off.
An exaggeration obviously, but am I the only one at least slightly frightened by stuff like this? Yes, it's very advanced and interesting, but the potential for disaster is huge.

How exactly is it dangerous, this isnt exactly skynet and machines actually deciding to kill humans is purely a sci-fi trope.

 

[kouriichi]

huh. thats...... strange..... youd think they would use cat or dog brain cells.

or dolphin!! those are really smart.

 

[Dana22]

There is a long road from Brain Cells to a Brain.

Insects have "brains", can they learn ?

 

[thenamelessloser]

The very interesting thing is that the video is TWO YEARS OLD. 0_o

 

[thenamelessloser]

huh. thats...... strange..... youd think they would use cat or dog brain cells.

or dolphin!! those are really smart.

I may be wrong here but I don't think among animals that each specific neuron is that different. To put it simply, it is the number and the way the neurons that are organized in more advanced animals such as dolphins humans and apes that makes the difference. I could be wrong here. I just read random online articles and lay person books so what I'm saying could be completely wrong. (Edit: oops too dumbed down after skimming wikipedia about neurons. There are very specialties neurons for specific things but I think overall using rat neurons isn't that much different than using a neurons from other animals. Because even though brain cells have various specalities, I think motor cells among different animals probably don't differ that much from each other.

There is a long road from Brain Cells to a Brain.

Insects have "brains", can they learn ?

Um, bees, ants and other animals have pretty advanced large groups working together. Some amount of learning I think is necessary to have bee hives function and stuff. I'm not exactly sure though...
Wikipedia has a page on bees and learning- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_learning_and_communication

 

[batuea]

OMFG, great I thought we dodge Skynet when Duke forever was canceled *because duke forever was going to be released 15 before Skynet became aware and active* but nope duke is going to be released and now.....now this, well shit I am going to be making home made pipe bombs and move near a machining shop.