Accordingly to Professor Nicolelis, the most important name in the BCI field (do you remember the monkey who could control the robot just thinking?), in a recent work it was obtained a telecontrolled rat just inserting three microelectrodes in the animal’s brain. Two of them are used to stimulate the somatosensory cortex in the whiskers zone, one for the left whiskers and the other for the right ones. The third has to stimulate a zone that is thought to mimic pleasure followed by positive reward. So, if the rat turns in the right direction, it will be pleasured. The final result is a telecontrolled rat!
With this set-up it was possible to teach the rat how to navigate in invisible mazes. After some trials, the rat was able to navigate into the real mazes, knowing exactly where to go. Amazing.
Applications? Of course the “positive” scenario is the usual after-earthquake one: telecontrolled animals could be the perfect tools to locate surviving victims buried in piles of rubble.
No words on the military uses. Anyway, what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve… I feel better.
