I, Cyborg

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

The cyborg is constantly evolving, and it hasn’t been a problem to recruit students for this project. NTNU master’s students and ten students from the Experts in Teamwork (EiT) course are participating in the work. Sverre Hendseth is the students’ adviser. 

The Robot Operating System (ROS) is the open source program at the crux of the robotics part of the project. ROS is one of the standards used in the development of robots.

Biology and machine 

PhD candidate and research assistant Martinius Knudsen in the Department of Engineering Cybernetics is the project coordinator for this part of the cyborg’s development. But his main job is to get the biological components of the cyborg to talk with the mechanical ones.

“Just developing a social robot is an ambitious goal in itself. Making biological neurons central to the project – in effect creating a cyborg – makes everything extra challenging. But by no means impossible,” says Knudsen.

Biological neurons fire electrical impulses. Machines can perceive and interpret these impulses. Microelectrode arrays, or MEAs, function as interfaces between the neurons and electronic circuitry, so that communication can go both ways between the robotic and biological parts. The underlying technology is complicated, but has to do with detecting extracellular electrical potentials. 

Neurons require specific conditions to survive, like correct gas concentrations, nutrition and a sterile environment to avoid infection. So the most convenient way to keep the cultured neurons healthy is for them to continue to live at the neuroscience laboratory, at the Department of Neuroscience and Movement Science, at NTNU’s St Olavs campus, and to transmit the electrical impulses wirelessly between the neurons and the robot, which is located at Gløshaugen. It’s a little like having your brain somewhere else than in your body. Although the neurons hardly constitute a brain at this point. 

The neurons “should probably be regarded more as a biological processing unit. The nerve cell network consists of about 100,000 neurons, which is still quite a way off from the 86 billion in the adult human brain,” says Knudsen. 

But some simple life forms can function with that few – which brings up the ethical issues.

Is this the future we want? 

Heidrun Åm is a social scientist and researcher at NTNU’s Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture.

Åm does not think that NTNU’s combination of robot and biological cells poses a danger per se. But future technology will be far more advanced, so it’s about being prepared, she says. 

In general, Åm considers it important to know what we are doing in order to ensure developments that are democratic and inclusive. 

“We need an overview of the choices that are made in projects like these and the impact they can have on society. Only in this way can we make informed choices about whether this is the future we want,” says Åm. 

It is important to include social scientists. Could the research have adverse effects? What’s my role in it all? Who takes responsibility if something goes wrong? We need to understand and regulate scientific development, so that it does not threaten the basic values of society. 

What are scientists and engineers doing to ensure that most people can trust research developments to benefit them? Scientists and the rest of the population could quickly end up on a collision course.

“You have to win people’s confidence. If you don’t, the artificial intelligence debate will end up like what’s going on with genetically modified foods,” she says.

This article was written by Grete Wolden and Steinar Brandslet and originally appeared on the Gemini Research News site here.

About NTNU
NTNU has the main responsibility for higher education in technology in Norway, and it is the country’s premier institution for the education of engineers. The university offers several programmes of professional study and a broad academic curriculum in the natural sciences, social sciences, teacher education, humanities, medicine and health sciences, economics, finance and administration, as well as architecture and the arts. Learn more about NTNU cyborg.

About Gemini Research News
Gemini.no and its English counterpart, gemini.no/en, bring you up-to-date research news from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway’s main science and engineering university, and SINTEF, Scandinavia’s largest independent research group. Our webzine offers everything from longer feature stories to shorter news articles, news briefs, slideshows, audio files and videos.

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