When cells in the robot, which has brain-like neurons produced in the lab, were electrically stimulated, the machine successfully navigated a small maze. A technique called ‘physical reservoir computing’ allows the robot to make sense of brain waves and overcome obstacles, the researchers said.
In the first thinking robot, signals from brain cells transmitted environmental information as they moved through the labyrinth. At the same time, the algorithm of the robot, which has artificial intelligence, was stimulated by neurons when it made it in the wrong direction. The circular robot was developed to fit in the palm of an average human.
If the robot took the wrong turn or headed in the wrong direction, the neurons in the cell culture were disturbed by the electrical pulse. The robot was fed continuous signals until it completed the task in a series of trials.
The circular machine, approximately 7 centimeters in diameter and 5 centimeters high, can fit in the palm of the hand. The Japanese team hopes that the breakthrough will enable the development of supercomputers that mimic the human brain.
