Rat Brain Cells Produce Art

Posted 10 Jul 2003 at 02:39 UTC by The Swirling Brain

US and Austrailian researchers have put rat cells in a glass dish which controls three markers to produce art! The little cyborg named MEART (an acronym for multi-electrode array art) is a "The semi living artist" cybernetic organism that creates art of the quality of that a kin to 3 year old but art nontheless. The rat brain cells are kept on a glass slide in some goo that keeps them alive and are connected to a robot arm via electrodes that allows the cells to draw with three colored markers and to see the art it's making. Researchers are hoping that the neuron cells will show some evidence of learning. There's no eraser for the rat brain cells so if it makes a mistake, perhaps it would exclaim, "rats!" The robot will be one of the participants of the Artbots Robotic Talent Show in New York.