Researchers at Tianjin University in China have created a robot that is controlled by human brain cells in what is being hailed as a breakthrough in biocomputing.
A haunting report in the South China Morning Post said that this will eventually lead to “the development of hybrid human-robot intelligence.”
The university described the revelatory finding as, simply, a “brain on a chip.”
When the brain is thereby linked with an electrode on a computer chip, one can encode and decode – best described as when Neo plugs into The Matrix, remember? – to have this mechanism complete whatever tasks it’s capable of. The project has been described by researchers as “the world’s first open-source brain-on-chip intelligent complex information interaction system.”
To control the robot, the brain implant can assist in avoiding obstacles, find targets, and use its mechanical arms to grip things. Still, it does not have eyes and can only communicate and respond via electronic signals and sensory.
“Brain organoid transplants are considered a promising strategy for restoring brain function by replacing lost neurons and reconstructing neural circuits,” the university researchers said, according to the South China Morning Post.
Great stuff, guys. It’s not like James Cameron hasn’t warned us about this.