Worm mind simulated in robot

[moonbogg]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/21/tech/mci-lego-worm/index.html

A rough and imperfect simulation is interesting to me for one reason.

"The machine's sensors, without any prior programming, made the robot behave in a similar fashion to C. elegans, approaching and backing away from obstacles or stimulated by food."

People always say that AI won't happen because of software limitations, but fail to realize their brains have no software themselves. The right hardware handling input will produce the desired result through learning processes.

 

[Subyman]

Its called goal-oriented simulation. Its been around forever but needs more computational power than traditional routine based programing.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

It ought to be fairly obvious that if you could perfectly reproduce a brain down to the very level of quantum actions you would have a duplicate mind, but here we have an issue with semantics and complex systems. You have nerves such that if you touch something hot you withdraw your hand before you feel the pain. Where does that "mind" reside? How many "minds" do you have?

 

[Londo_Jowo]

People always say that AI won't happen because of software limitations, but fail to realize their brains have no software themselves. The right hardware handling input will produce the desired result through learning processes.

Yet this robot had software that allowed it to respond to the sensors.

The open source project recently had its first major breakthrough when its software -- modeled on the neurons of the worm's nervous system -- independently controlled a Lego robot.

Also this is lacking peer review

With the worm's nose neurons replaced by a sonar sensor and the motor neurons running down both sides of the worm replicated on the left and right motors of the Lego bot, the robot could emulate the worm's biological wiring.

Larson said that while the open source project is still awaiting peer review, and the scientists and researchers in the experiment are reluctant to make any bold claims about how closely it resembled biological behavior, the result were nevertheless impressive.