RoboMoth: Scientists Create Robot Driven by Moth's Brain

Researchers at the University of Arizona have created a 6-inch-tall wheeled robot driven by brain impulses of a moth. The creation offers insights into the mechanism of the brain and how it works. As the moth observes activity around it, the signals from its brain are translated and sent to a computer that directs the robot to turn toward wherever the moth is looking.

The moth's vision has evolved over millions of years to accurately guide the insect as it dodges predators or seeks mates. Although the moth brain is the size of a grain of rice, the insect's ability to detect motion is "amazing -- beyond anything we could build," said Charles M. Higgins, UA associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

   

The robot’s motion is guided by a tiny electrode implanted in the moth’s brain, specifically to a single neuron that is responsible for keeping the moth’s vision steady during flight. The neuron transmits electrical signals which are then amplified in the robot's base and through a mathematical formula, a computer translates the signals into action, making the robot move.

The moth is immobilize inside a plastic tube mounted atop the 6-inch-tall wheeled robot. To get the moth to imitate flight, Higgins and his team placed the moth in its apparatus on a circular platform surrounded by a 14-inch-high revolving wall painted with vertical stripes. The moth's neuron reacts to the movement of the stripes and the process begins.

“Scientists have reached a frustrating point in understanding the brain - we know how it operates, to an extent but don’t know how to stop brain damage or repair it when it occurs.” Higgins said. But that may change in the future. Higgins has thus far been able to have robo-moth turn left or right but not forward or backward. The longest recorded movement has been 88 seconds.

Posted by Casey Kazan. Adapted from a University of Arizona release.

Higgins@ece.arizona.edu

Comments

[Diana Moneymaker]

If they can create a robot run by a moth's brain, then what stops them from creating a robot run by a human brain?

-Diana Moneymaker

[dude]

Diana, a moth 'brain' is basically a manageable package of a few hundred cells. A human brain is a tad more complex.

Wrap your noodle around this one: can a human brain grasp its own complexity to develop an interface for it ? Because to understand something as complex as a human brain, don't you need something complexer?