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Looks like the days when humans and machines will be fusing are not that far away. According to NewScientist, researchers from the University of Reading in the UK have managed to design a robot that relies on electronic chips and on neurons in order to interact witht the surrounding world. The main controller of the robot nestles inside a small pot containing a pink broth of nutrients and antibiotics. Inside that pot, around 300,000 rat neurons have made - and continue to make - connections with each other.

The disembodied neurons are communicating, sending electrical signals to one another just as they do in a living creature. The neuronal activity is constantly monitored by the researchers through 80 electrodes connected at the base of a port in the robot. The electrodes detect the voltages sparked by the neurons, which are then displayed on a computer screen.

By stimulating the neurons with signals from sensors on the robot and using the neurons' response to get the robots to respond, the Reading researchers hope to gain insights into how brains function. The data gathered from these experiments can help cure conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and epilepsy.

"We're trying to understand what is going on inside this brain material that could have direct implications for human health," says Kevin Warwick, Reading's head of cybernetics, also helped Hammond and Ben Whalley, both neuroscientists.

Here’s a short clip that depicts how the robot is responding to external stimuli:



For more information, read the full article from NewScientist.