Rat-brained robot does distant art

BBC news ^ | Monday, 28 July, 2003, 09:39 GMT 10:39 UK | By Lakshmi Sandhana

[bicycle thug]

Meet the latest spaced out modern artist - a picture-drawing robot arm in Australia whose brain sits in a petri dish in the US.

Working from their university labs in two different corners of the world, American and Australian researchers have created what they call a new class of creative beings: "the semi-living artist".

Gripping three coloured markers positioned above a white canvas, a robotic arm churns out drawings akin to that of a three-year-old. Its guidance comes from around 50,000 rat neurons in a petri dish 19,000 kilometres away.

The "brain" lives at Dr Steve Potter's lab at Georgia's Institute of Technology, Atlanta, while the "body" is located at Guy Ben-Ary's lab at the University of Western Australia, Perth.

Webcam stimulation

The two ends communicate with each other in real-time through the internet.

The project represents the team's effort to create a semi-living entity that learns like the living brains in people and animals do, adapting and expressing itself through art.

"We are looking at future scenarios where geography won't matter," said Mr Ben-Ary. "The brain of the semi-living could be anywhere in the world, while the body (machine) will interface and be fed off it," he told BBC News Online.

"It really makes you think about the future possibilities, and realise that the sci-fi vision of movies like Cold Lazarus can turn into reality in the future."

Termed Meart (Multi-Electrode Array Art), the cells are connected via 64 two-way electrodes to a computer and are stimulated by information; in this case transmitting scaled-down images of visitors in its vicinity, captured with a webcam.

Learn a little

The computer translates any resulting neural activity into robotic arm movement. By closing the loop, the researchers hope that the rat culture will learn something about itself and its environment.

"I would not classify [the cells] as 'an intelligence', though we hope to find ways to allow them to learn and become at least a little intelligent," said Dr Potter.

"I look forward to seeing something everyone would call 'learning', but so far, we only have evidence that the system is developing and adapting, such as becoming more controlled - less chaotic over time," he added

Dr Potter hopes the venture will provide valuable insights into how learning occurs at a cellular level.

The latest initiative is a development of the SymbioticA Fish And Chips project, in which the artist-scientists grew fish neurons over silicon chips to control a robotic arm that produced drawings and music.

[Lazamataz]

Rat-brained robotry has already been outsourced to the Tata Group from Bangalore, India.

[Buck W.]

This explains the short delays that precede questions asked by Helen Thomas at press briefings.

[BSunday]

The computer translates

hmm

[Mr. K]

So laz, if you are not in Roch and more where di you end up?
I am in Buffalo now- but looking to move out of this stupid hillary-brained state...

[Lazamataz]

Tobago.

I'm in the town called Goodwood.

I mean, how could I pass that name up?

[Luke Skyfreeper]

[My2Cents]

Which Rat's brain did they use? Charlie Rangle's? Barbara Boxer's? Ted Kennedy's? Good thing they didn't try using Ted Kennedy's liver.

[No.6]

In related news, the rat-brain has applied for and received a federal art grant to pursue its work.

[3Lean]

Why does the "brain" have to be separated from the "arm"? Wouldn't studying the interaction be easier if they were both in the same room? I guess the use of the internet and webcam makes the whole project sound a little more modern and cool...

[alnitak]

This is old hat. There was a story on slashdot the other day about how some guys in Burma (hotbed of hi-tech, don't you know) had hooked up a leech brain to Robert Fisk's word processor. It's been working for 3 weeks now and no-one has noticed the difference.

[Free Vulcan]

We are the Borg.

Resistance is futile.

[Free_at_last_-2001]

Rat-brained robot does distant art... - What's gore up to now?

[agitator]

[Redcloak]

[walford]

"...churns out drawings akin to that of a three-year-old..."

Actually if you said that it was done by someone with a silly name with bad teeth, you could have it displayed in the Hirshhorn Museum here in DC. It is no worse than the chicken scratchings and randomly-welded pieces of scrap metal there now.

After a few months of oohs and aahs, you could sell it for enough money to buy a fleet of Rolls Royces...

[bicycle thug]

Seeing how paintings by cats get top dollar and books written about them, I would have to agree that anything is possible.

[Mr. K]

what the heck???????????? how did you end up there? is there any computer jobs available there?