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Merlin Robotics technology is at the forefront of incredible new research by Reading University into the effects of conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
Neuroscientists at Reading have connected 300,000 rat neurons to a Merlin Miabot robot via Bluetooth. The neurons are being taught to steer the robot, and will soon be able to recognise their surroundings.
The eventual aim is to disrupt the robot's memories of these surroundings to recreate the effects of particular memory-related conditions. The scientists at Reading will be studying how neural tissues degrade and cope with this degradation.
The neurons are taken from a rat foetus and are kept separately from the robot, as they must be kept "alive" at a comfortable temperature. They communicate with the robot via Bluetooth wireless technology.
The Reading rat-brain robot project, led by Professor Kevin Warwick, has attracted worldwide media attention and could be a significant step in the understanding and treatment of memory-related diseases.
Professor Warwick said: "This new research is tremendously exciting as firstly the biological brain controls its own moving robot body, and secondly it will enable us to investigate how the brain learns and memorises its experiences. This research will move our understanding forward of how brains work, and could have a profound effect on many areas of science and medicine."
The rat-brained robot has been named Gordon.
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