Worms did you think one could be made into a robot like a virtual worm.
Those worms might be simple creatures with simple skills and interactivity but that's exactly what we are looking for to digitize a living brain.
Look at this, well it might look like a simple robot to you but what you are looking at is actually a copy of the brain of a worm called Caenorhabdities elegans or C. elegans.
This is the digital brain of the worm made into a computer chip that is connected with Lego robot.
This is like a simulated brain that's navigating around on it's own with the form of a Lego robot and not being operated by some kind of if else based programming or something like that.
To accomplish this kind of interactivity from a living worm the scientists put sensors on the worm's nose and tail so if the robot meet a wall they know they should turn around just like a real worm would do.
Trying to get from the worm to robot interactivity took the scientists decades of research looking into each and every cell of the worms and understanding how it worked with the cells.
Then the researchers built programs that could mimic that kind of interactions.
Each of the above boxes represents a neuron that is interacting with the environment around.
The scientists could do this because they have a complete map of all the cell in the worm and their functions.
It's the worm's connectome and that holds about 1000 cells and all the 302 neurons of the worm.
So after they have digitized how every cell and neurons of the worm interacts you kind of have a digital form of the worm.
By simulating a brain of a worm or any creature at cellular level the researchers can watch and understand many larger aspect of the living brain.
If they turn on the simulation they can then let the worm robot be like a worm.
The researchers can do this by taking the connectome of the worm and some algorithms and precise anatomical map of the worm and after combining them together they can turn that into a simulation and after they turn it on the robot becomes a worm almost.
What you think this level of science and technology can accomplish in the coming years of future?
