The project represents the team's effort to create a semi-living entity that learns like the living brains in people and animals do, adapting and expressing itself through art.


...but the brain is in Atlanta
"We are looking at future scenarios where geography won't matter," said Mr Ben-Ary. "The brain of the semi-living could be anywhere in the world, while the body (machine) will interface and be fed off it," he told BBC News Online.
The computer translates any resulting neural activity into robotic arm movement. By closing the loop, the researchers hope that the rat culture will learn something about itself and its environment.

"I would not classify [the cells] as 'an intelligence', though we hope to find ways to allow them to learn and become at least a little intelligent," said Dr Potter.


Dr Potter hopes the venture will provide valuable insights into how learning occurs at a cellular level.
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Rat-brained robot does distant art: "American and Australian researchers have created what they call a new class of creative beings: 'the semi-living artist'. " Robots brains will be the internet