…fat lot of good that will do!

Ok, I made up the part about the MP. In truth, the report centres on research being carried out at Reading University. Men with huge, domed foreheads have been using parts of a rats brain (you can see how easy it was to make the mistake!) to aid robotic navigation.

The project marries 300,000 rat neurons to a robot which allows the mechanical freak of nature to be taught how to navigate obstacles and walls via sonar. By studying what happens to the neurons as the boffins hope learn how memories are laid down.

Pointy-eared hybrids

“The blob of nerves forming the brain of the robot was taken from the neural cortex in a rat foetus and then treated to dissolve the connections between individual neurons.

Sensory input from the sonar on the robot is piped to the blob of cells to help them form new connections that will aid the machine as it navigates around its pen.

As the cells are living tissue, they are kept separate from the robot in a temperature-controlled cabinet in a container pitted with electrodes. Signals are passed to and from the robot via Bluetooth short-range radio.”

Hmm, I can see the headlines - ‘Robot horde gave me Weil’s disease’!

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