Cyborg rat pilot

[EricTheRed 0]

Rat brain flies jet
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/uof-us102104.php

It's essentially a dish with 60 electrodes arranged in a grid at the bottom," DeMarse said. "Over that we put the living cortical neurons from rats, which rapidly begin to reconnect themselves, forming a living neural network – a brain."
The brain and the simulator establish a two-way connection, similar to how neurons receive and interpret signals from each other to control our bodies. By observing how the nerve cells interact with the simulator, scientists can decode how a neural network establishes connections and begins to compute, DeMarse said.
When DeMarse first puts the neurons in the dish, they look like little more than grains of sand sprinkled in water. However, individual neurons soon begin to extend microscopic lines toward each other, making connections that represent neural processes. "You see one extend a process, pull it back, extend it out – and it may do that a couple of times, just sampling who's next to it, until over time the connectivity starts to establish itself," he said. "(The brain is) getting its network to the point where it's a live computation device."
To control the simulated aircraft, the neurons first receive information from the computer about flight conditions: whether the plane is flying straight and level or is tilted to the left or to the right. The neurons then analyze the data and respond by sending signals to the plane's controls. Those signals alter the flight path and new information is sent to the neurons, creating a feedback system.
"Initially when we hook up this brain to a flight simulator, it doesn't know how to control the aircraft," DeMarse said. "So you hook it up and the aircraft simply drifts randomly. And as the data comes in, it slowly modifies the (neural) network so over time, the network gradually learns to fly the aircraft."

illegible usually

[quade 4]

Quote

"Initially when we hook up this brain to a flight simulator, it doesn't know how to control the aircraft," DeMarse said. "So you hook it up and the aircraft simply drifts randomly. And as the data comes in, it slowly modifies the (neural) network so over time, the network gradually learns to fly the aircraft."

Why? Why does the rat brain learn to fly the sim? What motivates it? Why would it "care" that the sim is straight and level? Is there a reward / pain mechanisim?

Learning is defined as changing behavior. You touch a hot plate on a stove and you learn things on stoves can be hot and in the future you avoid them because fo the pain associated with that knowledge.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[billvon 3,120]

During WWII pigeons were strapped into missiles and used as guidance systems - they'd peck at a target to steer the missile. Not as elegant as rat neurons, perhaps.

[quade 4]

Yes, but in the case fo the pigeons, you had a complete sensor system (their eyes) and a reward training system (pecking in responce to the target gave them food).

How do these unorganized rat neurons "see" what is happening in the sim and why would they "care"?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[billvon 3,120]

>How do these unorganized rat neurons "see" what is happening in the
>sim and why would they "care"?

They don't see anything; they just respond to stimuli. I would imagine they are programmed like any other off-the-shelf neural network, by encouraging connectivitiy that leads to a desired result. Even silicon based neural networks aren't really programmed; they are trained.

[Milo 0]

I want one of these that can drive me home from the bar.

[quade 4]

This is why I put the words "see" and "care" in quotes.

How do you train them? I assume you can't give them more or less food. If they make an incorrect responce, to you shock them with low voltage or what?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver