How about building robots that work with the power of living brains? Is it just a science fiction? Well no I guess, a super enthusiast Charles M. Higgins, an associate professor in the University of Arizona, and his team has recently demonstrated a robot that moves using brain impulses of a moth.
Now, Higgins and Timothy Melano, a doctoral student not only demonstrated the robot, but explained the concept on which this is based. The moth’s brain is a small and rather simpler than other living beings.
The team implanted a tiny electrode inside a moth’s brain and to a specific part that helps the moth’s vision. The robot catches the electrical signals from the moth’s brain. These signals are later on transmitted to a computer that then causes the action in the robot. The moth is placed on the robot in a plastic tube at the top.
There have been numerous attempts to understand brain, which has been regarded as the most complicated organ, and amazing medical results have been sought in this area in recent days. Still, what we lack is that the understanding of brain is limited to its activities and we are unsure of a way to fix it when brain damage happens.
So, is it a revolutionary step in Neuroscience? This is unknown but definitely this can be considered to reflect the new heights that Neuroscience is going to touch in the near future.
Source: Physorg
