OpenWorm Project Robot Thinks It Is A Worm

As a man thinks, so is he. Would the same mantra apply to that of robots? Apparently so, as what you can see in the video above happens to be known as the OpenWorm Project. The OpenWorm Project happens to be a LEGO robot that is not elongated or slimy in any way, but it has been programmed in such a way where it thinks it is a worm – thanks to it sporting the artificial mind of a worm. This is one worm where you will be able to slice into half to have it end up as two separate organisms for sure.

The OpenWorm Project is called so as project researchers have managed to map the brain of the small nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), which is well known for its squirminess and capacity of a mere 302 neurons. Baby steps are important steps after all, aren’t they?

One of the founders of OpenWorm, Timothy Busbice, had successfully applied the brain mapping in order to come up with software that is capable of mimicking the manner of an actual neural network, before being “installed” into a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot which subsequently saw it begin to wiggle. Pretty neat, don’t you think so?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Robots
Tags: AI (Artificial Intelligence)