The advanced and robust computational power of the brain is shown by the complex behaviors it produces. By embodying living cultured neuronal networks with a robotic or simulated animal (animat) and situating them within an environment, we study how the basic principles of neuronal network communication can culminate into adaptive goal-directed behavior. We engineered a closed-loop biological-robotic drawing machine and explored sensory-motor mappings and training. Preliminary results suggest that real-time performance-based feedback allowed an animat to draw in desired directions. This approach may help instruct the future design of artificial neural systems and of the algorithms to interface sensory and motor prostheses with the brain.
Here we present Silent Barrage, a closed loop system in which a culture of rat brain cells is given a new body in the form of a small 'forest' of robotic poles located within an art space. This system allows us to study the relationship between brain and body in both scientific and artistic contexts.
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