Re: Brain cells linked to a Robot

[janet paterson <janet313@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 02:48 PM 2000/06/17 -0300, Joao Carvalho <joao.carvalho@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>Hey folks , how about this :
>
>From the New York Times. June 15, 2000
>
>Team Links Brain Cells With a Robot
>
>By DANIEL SORID
>
>In another triumph of the scientific imagination, researchers have created
>a fish on wheels. Actually, they took part of the brain of a lamprey, an
>aquatic parasite, and connected it to a mobile robot, producing what they
>call an "artificial animal."
>
>It was the first time, researchers said, that animal brain cells and a robot
>had communicated in two directions.
>
>In findings that will be presented at an artificial-life conference this
>summer, Dr. Sandro Mussa-Ivaldi, an associate professor at the Northwestern
>University Medical School, and a team of researchers from universities in
>the United States and Italy say that they were able to control the motion
>of a two-wheeled robot by connecting it to the brain stem of the sea lamprey.
>
>The scientists removed the lamprey's brain stem and part of its spinal cord
>and placed them in a salt solution.
>
>Electrodes were then attached to the brain stem and connected to the robot.
>The lamprey's brain cells received a signal from light sensors in the robot,
>and the cells sent signals back to the robot.
>
>Depending on the placement of the electrode on the brain tissue, the robot
>moved toward or away from the light, or in a circle.
>
>The aim of the research is to untangle the mysteries of brain signals and to
>see how the brain's circuits change and adapt to different stimuli. The method,
>however, is unquestionably eerie. "It has echoes of a literary kind," Dr.
>Mussa-Ivaldi admitted.
>
>Linking a life form and a machine may make some people squirm, but Dr.
>Mussa-Ivaldi insists that the system may have practical benefits, like better
>prosthetic devices for humans. "Our goal is not to construct a cyborg," he
>said. "Our goal is to create a tool that will hopefully help us understand
>how the brain works."
>
>Steve Grand, the chief executive of Cyberlife Research, a British research
>and development company that is trying to create forms of synthetic life,
>agreed. Mr. Grand said work by Dr. Mussa-Ivaldi and others who study the
>interactions between living creatures and machines could be justified by
>its potential benefits.
>
>"People are sometimes fearful that artificial life research will reduce us
>all to machines and explain away our souls," he said. "On the contrary, I
>believe it will give us a new understanding and a new respect for ourselves,
>as the most sublime machines in the known universe."
>--
>Cheers,
>Joao Paulo - Salvador,BA,Brazil


i love it!
thank you, joao paulo


janet marie


janet paterson
53 now / 41 dx / 37 onset
613 256 8340 / PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada
visit my website "a new voice" at: ";