Experiments with an in-vitro robot brain

The controlling mechanism of a typical mobile robot is usually a computer system either remotely positioned or in-body. Recent research is on-going in which biological neurons are grown and trained to act as the brain of an interactive real-world robot – thereby acting as instinctive computing elements. Studying such a system provides insights into the operation of biological neural structures; therefore, such research has immediate medical implications as well as enormous potential in computing and robotics. A system involving closed-loop control of a mobile robot by a culture of neurons has been created. This article provides an overview of the problem area, gives an idea of the breadth of present ongoing research, details our own system architecture and, in particular, reports on the results of experiments with real-life robots. The authors see this as a new form of artificial intelligence.