CHINA has reportedly created a robot with a bizarre lab-grown human brain.
Dubbed an “organoid”- the wacky Frankenstein invention is the latest attempt at creating a hybrid machine that can independently perform a number of useful tasks.
A mock-up of the brain-robot hybrid from China[/caption]
The wacky device hopes to be able to help a robot pick up objects and avoid obstacles[/caption]
The device has been built using specialist technology that combines a tissue derived from human stem cells and a neutral interface chip.
Once embedded, the chip will power the robot and teach it to grip objects as well as avoiding certain obstacles, say developers at Tianjin University and the Southern University of Science and Technology.
The brain organoid is part of an emerging branch of technology that uses brain and computer interfaces.
Keen developers have made it a priority to figure out the best way to combine the brain’s electrical signals with external computing power.
One of the ways they hope the new technology will work is through encoding and decoding simulation feedback through varying tests.
They also use low-intensity ultrasound waves to maintain the brain’s stable foundation to grow.
Tianjin University called it “the world’s first open-source brain-on-chip intelligent complex information interaction system”.
Vice-president at the university Ming Dong told China‘s Science and Technology Daily: “This is a technology that uses an in-vitro cultured ‘brain’ coupled with an electrode chip to form a brain-on-chip.”
Li Xiaohong, a professor at Tianjin University called the results so far promising but noted they still face issues such as “insufficient nutrient supply”.
The system is similar to Elon Musk’s Neuralink project in terms of it using a brain-computer hybrid interface.
Neuralink, which had its first patient this year, sees a chip being implanted into a human’s brain underneath the skull.
Once attached the chip connects your brain waves to an app where it can be accessed by doctors.
They hope it will be able to help individuals with neurological conditions.
It comes as Japanese scientists have found a way to bind engineered skin tissue to humanoid robots.
Chilling video of the world’s first robot face carved from human flesh shows the device putting on a very sinister smile.
The scientists, led by Professor Shoji Takeuchi of the University of Tokyo, claim the breakthrough could bring more mobility to robots, some of which can already move without a human.
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 life human organs to be used in scientific research.
Specialists will use organoids to help with studying areas such as the brain, retina, kidney, and lungs as well as all round organ development and disease.
They are a key alternative to real organs as they take a much shorter time to begin yielding results.
While they massively minimise the risk to humans, organoids are also much better at focusing on a specific area of the body being targeted by treatments or issues.
Experts labelled the invention of organoids as one of the largest scientific advancements when it came out in 2013.
The first successful transplantation of an organoid into a human was in 2022.
The patient had ulcerative colitis which were used to create the organoid.
