Moth brains for robot

Harnessing the electrical impulses of sight, scientists have built a robot guided by the brain and eyes of a moth.
As the moth tracks the world around it, an electrode in its tiny brain captures faint electrical impulses that a computer translates into action.
The moth, kept immobilised inside a plastic tube, was mounted to 6-inch-tall, wheeled robot. When the moth moved its eyes to the right, the robot turned in that direction.
The research, presented this week at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, US, marked the latest advance by scientists who are trying to perfect the link between brain and machine.
The technology one day might help people who are paralyzed or have lost their limbs resume movement in the world around them. Scientists have developed experimental devices that allow patients who have lost their ability to move to manipulate cursors on a screen or crude robotic hands using only their thoughts.
The technology might also lead to development of intelligent machines that can see and smell the world just as living things do, although scientists cautioned such a vision is a long way off. While robomoth8217;s abilities are limited, the contraption also hinted at the possibilities of using the vast computing power inside even the smallest brains. The moth8217;s vision system has evolved over millions of years to accurately guide the insect as it dodges predators or seeks mates.
Although the moth brain is the size of a grain of rice, the insect8217;s ability to detect motion is 8220;amazing8212;beyond anything we could build8221;, said senior author Charles Higgins, an associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of Arizona.
Higgins and other robotic researchers also have been working to exploit the eyesight of ordinary house flies and dragonflies. Higgins chose the tobacco hornworm moth for the latest experiment in part because the University of Arizona maintains a colony for research purposes.
8220;When you8217;re doing research, it helps that you don8217;t have to catch your insects,8221; he said.
The moth, which survives about a week in nature, is regarded as a pest because its larvae devour tobacco and tomato crops. With its 4-inch wingspan, the moth is often mistaken for a hummingbird.
In the experiment, researchers attached an electrode to a single neuron in the area of the moth8217;s brain responsible for keeping its vision steady during flight. The neuron transmitted electrical signals to an amplifier located at the base of the robot, which was assembled from an off-the-shelf kit.
Using a mathematical formula, the computer translated the signals into action, making the robot move.
To make the moth shift its gaze, researchers placed the robomoth on a circular platform that was surrounded by a 14-inch-high revolving wall painted with vertical stripes. As the wall rotated clockwise, the moth8217;s eyes tracked the stripes. When the striped wall moved in the opposite direction, the moth8217;s eyes did also.
The longest transmission detected from the moth8217;s brain lasted 88 seconds, said coauthor Timothy Melano, a graduate student who worked on the project.
Higgins said a robot hooked into the moth8217;s sophisticated olfactory system might one day be used to detect bombs. After all, he said, 8220;if it blows up, all you8217;ve lost is a mo th.8221;
-Denise Gellene LAT-WP