Chinese researchers have developed a BCI, brain-computer interface system, on a brain that was grown in lab.
A brain-computer interface is a communication link between the brain's electrical activity and an external device, like a computer. With the help of a microchip that's implanted into a person's brain, they can control a computer with just their thoughts.
Typical BCIs use human or animal brains, but China's "brain on a chip", called MetaBOC, works with a brain organoid that was created in a lab using stem cell culture technology.
With MetaBOC, scientists implanted a chip into the lab-grown brain, which was then installed into a robot.
The system allows scientists to autonomously control the robot for tasks like obstacle avoidance, tracking and grasping.
The system's developer said the technology offers a new path to making smart robots, as opposed to from AI algorithms.
The study was jointly conducted by researchers from Tianjin University and the Southern University of Science and Technology and was published in the international journal Brain.
