A hybrot is a hybrid robot, a “hybrid of living and robotic
components.” A hybrot has a robotic body but is controlled by a cultured network
of living brain cells, with most using cells from rat brains. First created in 2002 by Dr. Steve Potter (see here), a professor of biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, the functionality of hybrots is obviously quite limited. Nevertheless, all actions taken by a hybrot are in direct response to
neuron-to-neuron interactions. Hybrots are even capable of interpreting
input from the external environment and adjusting their behavior accordingly, as
seen in this video (note actual hybrots look NOTHING like the above picture).
Hybrots present many interesting implications for the
future. Perhaps most obviously, hybrots may help researchers create an accurate
artificial representation of the human brain. They may also provide a
foundation upon which to build biological or biologically-inspired computers.
The technology could even see application with prosthetic limbs and, perhaps
most ambitiously, completely artificial bodies.
Technologies like the hybrot are especially interesting for cognitive scientists because they can be analyzed on several different levels. For
example, in addition to the aforementioned neural, medical, and computer
science applications, the hybrot can also be considered in a philosophical light.
A hybrot is part robot and part living cells—is it alive? Is it “partially
alive”? Is it an organism? Is it a cyborg?
It seems hybrots give rise to more questions than
answers. Nevertheless, they will almost certainly make significant contributions
to the future of cognitive science.
A [much more advanced] possible future presentation of a rat-governed
hybrot can be found here and here.
Much food for thought. If you like bio-digital hybrids, I recommend this short paper. It managed to make me giggle out loud. Although it is serious, it includes such insanity as Cat-Cat-Revolution, Pac-Man against real crickets, and much more. Also, it informed me that Dutch pigs have the right to toys, which is nice to know.
ReplyDeletehttp://fredspdfs.blogspot.ie/2013/02/why-simulate-hybrid-biological-digital.html
Travis: I hold you responsible for sending me goofing off on Youtube for the last 40 minutes when I'm supposed to be writing my own blog! Anyway on my wanderings I was reminded of the classic 1970's show the 6 Million Dollar Man - so this is just for the retro value http://youtu.be/woOLEEu8RLI
ReplyDeleteFred: "bio-digital" is a tad dry no? Please please can we use the term "cyborg" instead (short for "cybernetic organism") - it's so much cooler! I like this snippet from Wikipedia.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyborg#cite_note-2
"The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D.S. Halacy's Cyborg: "Evolution of the Superman" in 1965 featured an introduction which spoke of a "new frontier" that was "not merely space, but more profoundly the relationship between 'inner space' to 'outer space' – a bridge...between mind and matter." D. S. Halacy, Cyborg: Evolution of the Superman (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1965), 7.