CHINA has developed a robot with a strange, lab-grown human brain.
Frankenstein’s wacky invention is also called an ‘organoid’ and is the latest attempt to create a hybrid machine that can independently perform a number of useful tasks.
The device is built using special technology that combines tissue derived from human stem cells with a neutral interface chip.
Once embedded, the chip will current The robot must learn to grab objects and avoid certain obstacles, say developers from Tianjin University and Southern University of Science and Technology.
The brain organoid is part of an emerging branch of technology that uses brain-computer interfaces.
Enthusiastic developers have made it a priority to find the best way to combine the brain’s electrical signals with external computing power.
read more in wacky science
They hope that the new technology will work, among other things, by encoding and decoding simulation feedback through various tests.
They also use low-intensity ultrasound waves to maintain the brain’s stable foundation so it can grow.
Tianjin University called it “the world’s first open-source brain-on-a-chip intelligent complex information interaction system.”
University vice president Ming Dong told China’s Science and Technology Daily: “This is a technology in which an in vitro grown ‘brain’ is coupled with an electrode chip to form a brain-on-a-chip.”
Li Xiaohong, a professor at Tianjin University, called the results so far promising, but noted that there are still problems, such as “insufficient nutrients.”
The system is similar to Elon Musk’s Neuralink project in that it uses a hybrid brain-computer interface.
Neuralink, which welcomed its first patient this year, sees a chip implanted in a human brain beneath the skull.
Once the chip is connected, your brain waves are linked to an app so doctors can access them.
They hope it can help people with neurological disorders.
Japanese scientists have found a way to attach genetically engineered skin tissue to humanoid robots.
A chilling video of the world’s first robot face carved from human skin shows the device sporting a sinister smile.
The scientists, led by Professor Shoji Takeuchi of the University of Tokyo, claim that the breakthrough could make robots more mobile. Some of these robots can already move without human intervention.
What is an organoid?
AN ORGANOID is an artificially grown collection of cells or tissue that resembles an organ.
They are used to mimic the structure, function and cellular complexity of real human organs for use in scientific research.
Specialists use organoids to study areas such as the brain, retina, kidneys and lungs, as well as overall organ development and disease.
They are an important alternative to real organs, because they take much less time to produce results.
Organoids significantly minimize risk to humans, but they are also much better able to target a specific part of the body that is being targeted for treatments or problems.
Experts hailed the invention of organoids as one of the greatest scientific advances when it was announced in 2013.
The first successful transplantation of an organoid into a human occurred in 2022.
The patient had ulcerative colitis, which was used to create the organoid.