Robotic Nation Evidence

Brain-mimicking circuits to run navy robot

From the article:

Researchers in New York City are teaming with the U.S. Navy and scientists in Russia to build electronic circuits that mimic the brain, producing an agile controller that can maneuver robot vehicles with speed and precision.

The devices are based on a circuit in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that helps organize the body's motions. Specifically, the new technology imitates the olivocerebellar circuit, which controls balance and limb movement.

'It's present in all vertebrates -- it's very much the same from the most simple to the most complex brains,' researcher Rodolfo Llinas, a neuroscientist at New York University Medical School, told United Press International.

'The assumption is that it is conserved (in evolution) because it embodies a very intelligent solution,' Llinas said.

Over the next 20 to 30 years, scientists will figure out more and more cicuits in the brains of animals and humans: vision circuits, balance circuits, memory circuits, reasoning circuits, association circuits and so on. The pace of this kind of research is accelerating. This means that robots will be able to borrow circuits from nature and then improve on them very quickly.