Zeb Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Scientists were able to take the brain of a C. elegans roundworm, convert it into programming, and download it into a Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot. And it works!! There is now such a thing as a digital worm. And it is inside a Lego robot. Here are several news reports on it: http://singularityhub.com/2014/12/15/worm-brain-simulation-drives-lego-robot/ http://www.newstatesman.com/future-proof/2014/12/worms-brain-lego-robot-alive-or-just-creepy http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/scientists-put-worm-brain-lego-robot-body-article-1.2045518 http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/weve-put-worms-mind-lego-robot-body-180953399/?no-ist Creepy, isn't it? 6 Quote The artist formerly known as ŜﮞρЄЯ־GЄNіﮞŜ־CЯЄ▲Ŧ۞Я BBC#69 Entry: Roodaka - Master of Manipulation BFTGM entries: Zigben · Ventox · Deflecto “Hail Denmark.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonesiii Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 (edited) No, it isn't creepy. It's crawly. Or... worm... y... Edited January 7, 2015 by bonesiii 3 Quote The Destiny of Bionicle (chronological retelling of Bionicle original series, 9 PDFs of 10 chapters each on Google Drive): Part 1 - Warring with Fate | Part 2 - Year of Change | Part 3 - The Exploration Trap | Part 4 - Rise of the Warlords | Part 5 - A Busy Matoran | Part 6 - The Dark Time | Part 7 - Proving Grounds | Part 8 - A Rude Awakening | Part 9 - The Battle of Giants My Bionicle Fanfiction (Google Drive folder, eventually planned to have PDFs of all of it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The 1st Shadow Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 It's cool, that's what it is! Quote ~Your friendly, neighborhood Shadow ~Credit for Avatar and Banner goes to NickonAquaMagna~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Click Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 My only thought is "What...?" I mean, it's really cool that they managed to do that, and it's cool that science has gotten that far, but... why on earth would you think "Here's a worm brain, let's plug it into my NXT set."? 3 Quote ~ Corpus Rahkshi: Fang | Hoto | Tube | Tear | Canvas | Garrotte | Reda BZPRPG: Azusai | Mitsuri The Scarabax Library | Flickr | Deviantart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pohatu: Uniter of Stone Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 That's awesome! Everything about Lego is awesome, but this is awesomer than most. Now they should hook up a real, living worm. Quote I HATE SCORPIOS ~Pohatu Master of Stone, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Some Random Phrase Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Very cool. I really like emergent behaviors, and robots, and AI, and this combines it all. 1 Quote Kopaka, the coolest(Pun intended) Ko-Toa ever: "If the fight had turned, Exann might be the one on the floor with Antidermis spurting out of him. This is how battle is. This is how life is." -Mar'jik, Corpus Rahkshi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishers64 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 My only thought is "What...?" I mean, it's really cool that they managed to do that, and it's cool that science has gotten that far, but... why on earth would you think "Here's a worm brain, let's plug it into my NXT set."?It's called research scientists looking for grants in order to pay the light bill. I'm a bit skeptical, though, on how much of the worm's brain it actually simulates - the only thing it seemed to show was rudimentary collision avoidance. While that may be most of the brainpower the worm needs, it doesn't make for a very interesting bot. They didn't show the other bot features (as mentioned in the write-ups) in the video, so I'm wondering if they made that stuff up or I'm just not paying good attention. Quote Hero Factory RPG | Bionicle Mafia XXIX: Storyline & Theories Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toa Smoke Monster Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 What hath science done? I repeat, WHAT HATH SCIENCE DONE?! Joking aside, I do think that this is interesting but yet also kind of creepy. Its really cool that scientists were able to achieve this, but the thought that the mind of a living thing, even a worm, could to be put into a Lego robot creeps me out a little bit. After all, I didn't think something like this could actually be done. At least not in my lifetime. But the fact that this is actually becoming a reality, even if it is just for a worm right now, is sort of scary to me. But that just may be me being paranoid. Quote Everyone is one choice away from being the bad guy in another person's story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeb Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 My only thought is "What...?" I mean, it's really cool that they managed to do that, and it's cool that science has gotten that far, but... why on earth would you think "Here's a worm brain, let's plug it into my NXT set."?They were bored. They wanted to see what would happen. They like roundworms, robots, and Legos, and decided to combine them. They wanted to make the world's first virtual animal using the brain of a worm. They want to be like Dr. Frankenstein and creep everyone out. :P Also, that was an EV3 kit, not NXT. Quote The artist formerly known as ŜﮞρЄЯ־GЄNіﮞŜ־CЯЄ▲Ŧ۞Я BBC#69 Entry: Roodaka - Master of Manipulation BFTGM entries: Zigben · Ventox · Deflecto “Hail Denmark.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
You just lost the game Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 So this is what my tax dollars are being used for... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mysterious Minifig Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 My only thought is "What...?" I mean, it's really cool that they managed to do that, and it's cool that science has gotten that far, but... why on earth would you think "Here's a worm brain, let's plug it into my NXT set."?It's called research scientists looking for grants in order to pay the light bill. I'm a bit skeptical, though, on how much of the worm's brain it actually simulates - the only thing it seemed to show was rudimentary collision avoidance. While that may be most of the brainpower the worm needs, it doesn't make for a very interesting bot. They didn't show the other bot features (as mentioned in the write-ups) in the video, so I'm wondering if they made that stuff up or I'm just not paying good attention. It's not exciting simply because of what the robot is doing. Most of the kids who have a LEGO robotics sets can write programs that do the exact same thing. It's interesting because the robots program wasn't written for obstacle avoidance. It was written to duplicate the function of the worm's brain. The obstacle avoidance simply happened. Arguably, if something else happened, like the robot continuing to run its wheels and drive into the wall, this probably wouldn't have been considered such a breakthrough. I think the sound sensor was meant to be the food sensor, but it doesn't really explain that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xan Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Science can scare me sometimes. But I think this is what a scientist would do for a laugh. Must have been a really boring day in the lab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Some Random Phrase Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 It probably was. The program actually came from a project that was mimicing the entire worm that was unconnected to this. I think they basically went, "Hey, cool. Let's put this on a robot and see what happens!" Quote Kopaka, the coolest(Pun intended) Ko-Toa ever: "If the fight had turned, Exann might be the one on the floor with Antidermis spurting out of him. This is how battle is. This is how life is." -Mar'jik, Corpus Rahkshi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toa Doublebee Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Ahhh...reminds me my FLL days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicleFanatic Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 ....No wonder they haven't found a cure for Cancer yet, if this is all they're doing T_T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopekemaster Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 This is... quite strange. But very interesting, in a way. Being able to simulate biological/sensory processes.... Pretty cool. Quote My Writing Blog (more writing coming soon!) My Bionicle/LEGO Blog (defunct) Hyfudiar on Spotify (noise/drone/experimental music) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSkeletonMan939 Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Cool.... very cool, actually! I can barely wrap my head around the idea that they converted a brain into a program. It just goes to show that Legos can be far more than just a child's toy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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