Does anyone else think this is screwed up? Here come the ratbots By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor Guided rats - so-called ratbots - controlled through implants in their brains could one day be used to search for landmines or buried victims of earthquakes, scientists say. The extraordinary experiment involves researchers steering five rats through an obstacle course by remote control. Writing in the journal Nature, they say the ratbots could reach places inaccessible to humans or machines. The researchers are led by Dr Sanjiv Talwar of the State University of New York. Commands and rewards Electrodes were implanted into areas of the rat brain responsible for sensing reward as well as those that process signals from their whiskers. The commands and rewards were transmitted by radio from a laptop computer to a backpack receiver strapped to each rat. The scientists were able to make the rats run, turn, jump and climb where they wanted from distances of up to 500 metres (1640 feet) away. The ratbots negotiated an obstacle course which involved climbing a vertical ladder, running along a narrow ledge, hopping down a flight of steps, squeezing through a hoop and descending a steep ramp. The scientists say, "Our rats were easily guided through pipes and across elevated runways and ledges, and could be instructed to climb, or jump from, any surface that offered sufficient purchase. "We were also able to guide rats in systematically exploring large, collapsed piles of concrete rubble and to direct them through environments that they would normally avoid, such as brightly lit, open arenas." A "turn left" signal was interpreted by the rat's brain as a "touch" on its left whiskers. If the rat correctly followed the cue and turned left, its reward-centre was stimulated, filling the rat with a feeling of well-being. Dr Talwar says, "This is an animal with 200 million years of evolution behind it. Rats have native intelligence which is a lot better than artificial intelligence." Ethical problems "It is a hard problem simply trying to make a robot move properly over unpredictable terrain. It would be a simple matter to train rescue rats to recognise and home in on the smell of a human trapped under rubble." Dr Talwar acknowledged there might be ethical objections to such ideas, even if they could save human lives. "Our animals were completely happy and treated well and in no sense was there any cruelty involved," he says. "Nonetheless, the idea is sort of creepy. I do not know what the answer is to that."
Ah yes. My robot rats are nearing completion. Now all I need is a weather-controlling machine and I can RULE THE WORLD!
That rat is crazy!!! He's all like a robot!!! Stay away from me you crazy rat!! I'M BRIAN FELLOWS (yes, it is my BBS mission to post a message like the one above whenever possible!)
Wait...let me get this straight...The animals are kept in captivity, have electrodes surgically implanted in their brains, and are forced to do someone else's bidding in potentially life-threatening situations? And they're completely happy?? Sure, I buy that...
Since the are constantly stimulating the pleasure centers of the rats brain, I would imagine that they are very happy, much like the addict when he gets his fix. I do not if what they are doing is right, but I am sure the rats would prefer this to the life of a sewer rat.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/3180636.htm Pentagon project: Guided rats By Peter Boylan Inquirer Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is developing live remote-controlled rats that eventually could be used to detect land mines and find people trapped in collapsed buildings. The rats have electrical probes wired into their brains, and they can turn left or right, climb and navigate mazes in response to commands issued by a researcher using a laptop computer, according to a brief report in today's journal Nature. "We can train and guide a rat to go over many terrains," said Dr. John K. Chapin, the experiment's principal researcher. "We'd like to train rats to go towards the smell of a person." He envisions rats, equipped with electronic global positioning systems, that could penetrate tiny openings and find humans in collapsed buildings. They could locate land mines that soldiers would destroy. The latest experiments, at the State University of New York's Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, evolved from research intended to aid paralyzed people. Chapin, a professor of physiology and pharmacology at the medical school, said he had been working in this field for about 20 years, using rats in experiments to learn lessons intended to help treat disease and injury. A recent paper looked at ways devices could be used to restore control of arms and legs for paralyzed people. Out of his earlier work came experiments with rats, leading Chapin and researchers in his lab to test the remote-control guidance system in about 30 of the rodents. Five learned to comply through sensory clues with researchers' orders well enough that Chapin sees a role for these animals in rescue operations and clearance of land mines, a major health hazard in other parts of the world. Rats aren't heavy enough to trigger the mines. Instead, groups of them could be guided over fields where land mines were suspected, Chapin said. Explosives give off odors animals can detect. Rats can cover as much as seven miles a day, he said. "I would think of a squad of rats, 20 or 30 rats going out and canvassing for mines or the site of a fallen building for people who would be buried." The rats wear microchips and wireless data links to the commander's computer on their backs. The researcher's signal, from up to 1,600 feet away - the length of five football fields - stimulates the part of the rat's brain that normally receives sensations from the animal's whiskers, which rats use to navigate. When it responds properly, the rat is rewarded with a signal that stimulates the pleasure center of its brain. Chapin said the remote control works because the rat whose brain has been stimulated responds as if its whiskers had touched something. To reward its response, the researcher sends a second signal to the area of the rat's brain that recognizes the consumption of food or water. The rat feels as if its thirst or hunger has been satisfied. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon's funding agency for long-range, high-risk research, has sponsored Chapin's studies since 1999 under a humanitarian grant. The agency's media spokeswoman did not respond to calls seeking comment. Some other researchers said the work was interesting but was an engineering feat, not an advance in animal neuroscience. Randy Gallistel, a professor of psychology and cognitive science at Rutgers University, said it was basically the same thing that scientists found they could do almost 50 years ago by stimulating the reward-sensing area of a rat's brain. "Without the gee-whizery, without the remote-control and so on, that this kind of thing was possible has been obvious for decades," Gallistel said. Howard Eichenbaum, a professor of psychology at Boston University, said the research, while not a major advance, was "clever" and held the promise of using animals as humans' "eyes" or as couriers to reach trapped victims. Aside from the technological challenges, he said, there may be ethical concerns about turning animals into "intelligent robots" serving humans. "It's one thing to see a rat running around like this, people don't get too emotional about that, but as soon as you get into dogs or work animals, people start getting real excited." Mary Beth Sweetland, vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, deplored the experiments as well as the possible use of remote-controlled rats. "Rats are not Tonka trucks with whiskers," Sweetland said. "This is just another way that people are showing how they really feel about rats."
