View source for Hybrot

{{Short description|Cybernetic organism ("hybrid robot")}}
{{Essay-like|date=June 2025}}
{{Merge|Hybrots|discuss=Talk:Hybrot#Proposed merge of Hybrots with Hybrot|date=June 2025}}
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Hybrot.jpg|250px|thumb|A hybrot]] -->A '''hybrot''' (short for "hybrid robot") is a [[Cyborg|cybernetic organism]] in the form of a [[robot]] controlled by a [[computer]] consisting of both electronic and biological elements. The biological elements are typically [[rat]] [[neuron]]s connected to a [[computer chip]].

This [[wikt:feat|feat]] was first accomplished in 2003 by Dr. Steve M. Potter, a professor of [[biomedical engineering]] at the [[Georgia Institute of Technology]]:

{{cquote|In his experiment, Potter places a droplet of solution containing thousands of rat neuron cells onto a silicon chip that's embedded with 60 electrodes connected to an amplifier. The electrical signals that the cells fire at one another are picked up by the electrodes which then send the amplified signal into a computer. The computer, in turn, wirelessly relays the data to the robot.}}

{{cquote|The robot then manifests this neuronal activity with physical motion, each of its movements a direct result of neurons talking to neurons. And the robot also sends information back to the cells. Equipped with light sensors, the robot receives input about its location in the playpen from infrared signals lining the borders.<ref>{{cite web |first=Roland |last=Piquepaille |url=http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2002/12/19.html |title=A Hybrot, the Rat-Brained Robot |date=2002-12-18 |accessdate=2010-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530045152/http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2002/12/19.html |archive-date=2009-05-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

What separates a hybrot from a [[cyborg]] is that the latter term is commonly used to refer to a cybernetically enhanced human or animal; while a hybrot is an entirely new type of creature constructed from organic and artificial materials. It is perhaps helpful to think of the hybrot as "semi-living", a term also used by the hybrot's inventors.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.neuro.gatech.edu/groups/potter/MEART.html |title=Multielectrode Array Art |publisher=NeuroLab |accessdate=2010-05-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702090836/http://www.neuro.gatech.edu/groups/potter/MEART.html |archivedate=2010-07-02 }}</ref>

Another interesting feature of the hybrot is its longevity. Neurons separated from a living [[brain]] usually die after only a couple of months. However, a specially designed incubator built around a gas-tight culture chamber selectively permeable to carbon dioxide, but impermeable to water vapor, reduces the risk of contamination and evaporation, and may extend the life of the hybrot to one to two years.<ref>{{Cite journal
  | last1 = Potter
  | first1 = Steve
  | last2 = DeMarse
  | first2 = Thomas
  | title = A new approach to neural cell culture for long-term studies
  | journal = Journal of Neuroscience Methods
  | volume = 110
  | issue = 1–2
  | pages = 17–24
  | date = 30 Sep 2001
  | pmid = 11564520
  | doi = 10.1016/S0165-0270(01)00412-5
  | s2cid = 18002796
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/04/030428082503.htm |title=Georgia Tech Researchers Use Lab Cultures To Control Robotic Device |work=ScienceDaily |date=2003-04-28 |accessdate=2010-05-20}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Animat]]
*[[Artificial intelligence]]
*[[Biorobotics]]
*[[Biohybrid robot]]
*[[Brain–computer interface]]
*[[Neurorobotics]]
*[[Semi-biotic systems]]
*[[Xenobot]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===

* {{cite journal |doi=10.1023/A:1012407611130 |author1=Thomas B. DeMarse |author2=Daniel A. Wagenaar |author3=Axel W. Blau |author4=Steve M. Potter |title=The Neurally Controlled Animat: Biological Brains Acting with Simulated Bodies |year=2001 |journal=Autonomous Robots |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=305–310 |pmc=2440704 |pmid=18584059}}
* Shkolnik, A. C. Neurally Controlled Simulated Robot: Applying Cultured Neurons to Handle and Approach/Avoidance Task in Real Time, and a Framework for Studying Learning In Vitro. In: Potter, S. M. & Lu, J.: Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science. Emory University, Atlanta (2003).
* {{Cite journal |author1=Wagenaar, D. A. |author2=Demarse, T. B. |author3=Taketani, M. |author4=Baudry, M. New York |year=2006
 |title=Closing the Loop: Stimulation Feedback Systems for Embodied MEA Cultures |journal=Advances in Network Electrophysiology Using Multi-Electrode Arrays |pages=215–242 }}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030430120030/http://www.gatech.edu/news-room/release.php?id=125 Georgia Tech Researchers Use Lab Cultures to Control Robotic Device]
* [http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-04/giot-gtr042403.php Georgia Tech researchers use lab cultures to control robotic device]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090530045152/http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2002/12/19.html A hybrot, the Rat-Brained Robot]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100702090836/http://www.neuro.gatech.edu/groups/potter/MEART.html Multielectrode Array Art] &ndash; A hybrot artist.
* [https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19926696.100-rise-of-the-ratbrained-robots.html Rise of the rat-brained robots]
* [http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/000842.html FuturePundit: Hybrot Robot Operated By Rat Brain Neurons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329182843/http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/000842.html |date=2014-03-29 }}
* [http://www.jove.com/index/Details.stp?ID=2056How How to Culture, Record and Stimulate Neuronal Networks on Micro-electrode Arrays (MEAs)]

[[Category:Biocybernetics]]
[[Category:Cybernetics]]
[[Category:Robots|-]]