Rats and robots. Long have they been mankind’s greatest foes. Rats spread the Black Death which once wiped-out a third of Europe. While robots–if science fiction is to be believed–are biding their time, waiting for their chance to overthrow their human masters. No humans would ever be so foolish to combine the two in an unholy rodent-machine hybrid, right?
Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo recently unveiled the RatCar. It’s what it sounds like. The researchers implanted electrodes into a rat’s brain to monitor its neural activity. The rat was then placed in a car-like contraption (though its legs could still touch the ground). The transmitters fed data from the rat’s brain directly into the car’s computer which (attempted to) determined where the rat wished to “roll.”
Behold. Where was two is now one. Rodent and vehicle. RatCar.
In theory, the car and rat work together to navigate themselves. However, researches admit that since the rat is tethered into the car, determining if the software was able to accurately read the animal’s real intentions remains somewhat ambiguous.
As it develops, this is the kind of scientific research that will one day help the handicapped better maneuver through a world that may currently be off-limits to them. As surreal as it may appear in its current incarnation, the ability to directly connect the human brain to machines will lead to more fulfilled lives for the disabled and handicapped. Not to mention strange new interface possibilities for the rest of us.
So, while it goes against every shred of human instinct, on behalf of our species I say “Godspeed, fair RatCar. Godspeed.”
A scientifically detailed examination of the brain as told by singing cartoon rats after the jump.
via IEEE Spectrum
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