World's First Cyborg - Gordon (Robot with a Biological Brain)

Gordon, probably the world's first robot controlled exclusively by living brain tissue."Now we are looking at how best to teach it to behave in certain ways," explained Warwick.Gordon has multiple personalities -- several MEA "brains" that the scientists can dock into the robot."It's quite funny -- you get differences between the brains," said Warwick.Mainly for ethical reasons, it is unlikely that researchers at Reading or the handful of laboratories around the world exploring the same terrain will be using human neurons any time soon in the same kind of experiments.

"Now we are looking at how best to teach it to behave in certain ways," explained Warwick.It is such an innovation and it’s a big step closer where one day human can control a computer or any machine just by thinking about it. Tests were held by connecting a rat’s neurons which sends signals to the robot to deliver its command. Observing how the nerve cells cohere into a network as they fire off electrical impulses."The purpose is to figure out how memories are actually stored in a biological brain," said Kevin Warwick, a professor at the University of Reading and one of the robot's principle architects.

“It’s quite funny — you get differences between the brains,” said Warwick, a professor at the University of Reading and one of the robot’s principle architects. “This one is a bit boisterous and active, while we know another is not going to do what we want it to.”

Observing how the nerve cells cohere into a network as they fire off electrical impulses, he said, may also help scientists combat neurodegenerative diseases that attack the brain such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Looking a bit like the garbage-compacting hero of the blockbuster animation "Wall-E," Gordon has a brain composed of 50,000 to 100,000 active neurons.

"If we can understand some of the basics of what is going on in our little model brain, it could have enormous medical spinoffs," he said.

This "multi-electrode array" (MEA) serves as the interface between living tissue and machine, with the brain sending electrical impulses to drive the wheels of the robots, and receiving impulses delivered by sensors reacting to the environment.

Once removed from rat fetuses and disentangled from each other with an enzyme bath, the specialized nerve cells are laid out in a nutrient-rich medium across an eight-by-eight centimeter (five-by-five inch) array of 60 electrodes.

Because the brain is living tissue, it must be housed in a special temperature-controlled unit -- it communicates with its "body" via a Bluetooth radio link.The robot has no additional control from a human or computer.

From the very start, the neurons get busy. "Within about 24 hours, they start sending out feelers to each other and making connections," said Warwick. "Within a week we get some spontaneous firings and brain-like activity" similar to what happens in a normal rat -- or human -- brain, he added.But without external stimulation, the brain will wither and die within a couple of months.

To help this process along, the researchers also use different chemicals to reinforce or inhibit the neural pathways that light up during particular actions.Mainly for ethical reasons, it is unlikely that researchers at Reading or the handful of laboratories around the world exploring the same terrain will be using human neurons any time soon in the same kind of experiments.