Scientists are one step closer to putting human brains in robots. Researchers recently created an artificial intelligence with the brain of a worm.
The Open Worm project involved efforts from scientists all around the world working together to develop software that mimics the mind of a roundworm (Caenorhabditis elegans). The researches then gave a robot made of Legos the ability to walk on its own, according to UPI.
The robot has so far been able to perform a few moves that its real counterpart can, which include approaching objects curiously and then backing away and hunting down nearby food. The research team believes the bot will eventually be able to evade predators and look for mates.
Stephen Larson, the coordinator of Open Worm, said the team has been working on the software for four years, adding that the project has brought more surprises than any he's ever worked on, UPI reported.
"We know we have the correct number of neurons, we have them connected together in roughly the same way that the animal has, and they're organized in the same way in that there are some neurons that give out information and other neurons that receive information," Larson explained. "We feel we've gone a long way down the road, but we still know that there's a lot that's been left out and there are a lot of assumptions- at the movement it represents one point in a line of iterative improvements."
The team plans on making the digital version of the worm available on the web in June 2015 for anyone to make suggestions for improvement, CNN reported. Over 60 people from 15 countries have contributed to the open source experiment so far, providing innovative solutions for the project.
"I'd say that this robot was just one of those left-field suggestions," Larson said. "A contributor was able to come along and re-use our material, put it up online. The fact that it caught so many people's attention was really a bit of a surprise."
