Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Cortical Labs used living human neurons grown on a chip to steer a robot dog, as the company expands small biological data centers in Melbourne and Singapore.
An Australian company has wired a cluster of living human neurons to a robot dog and used them to steer it toward a target. Cortical Labs grows the neurons from stem cells on a silicon chip lined with electrodes. The electrodes send signals to the cells and read their responses, which the system turns into movement. ScienceAlert reported the demonstration on October 31. Brett Kagan of Cortical Labs called the robot dog a simple demonstration that helps make the opportunity tangible. The company's neurons have already played the video games Pong and Doom.
The bigger bet is the biological data center. Cortical Labs sells its chip and life-support system as the CL1, a unit it calls a code-deployable biological computer. The company runs 120 CL1 units in Melbourne. It has built a 20-unit prototype in Singapore with data center developer DayOne and the National University of Singapore. Plans there call for up to 1,000 units. CEO Hon Weng Chong told Bloomberg that each CL1 uses less power than a handheld calculator. That pitch lands as conventional data centers strain power grids and water supplies, the same pressures behind data centers power grid strain in American towns.
The science is still small. Each CL1 holds a few hundred thousand neurons, while a human brain has tens of billions. Stem cell researcher Ernst Wolvetang of the University of Queensland told ABC News the flat layers of neurons remain simple compared with the networks in a real brain. Keeping living cells healthy in a server rack also takes specialists in both biology and programming. Cortical Labs says it works with bioethicists to make sure its cultures do not become conscious, a question researchers expect to grow as the systems scale.
Fans of The Matrix will notice the twist. In the 1999 film, machines farm human bodies for power. Here, human brain cells do the computing, and the selling point is how little power they need. The real systems are nowhere near the film, but the ethical questions about where a tool ends and something more begins are real. They join a longer list of debates covered in our guide on how to protect your family from AI.
For a household, nothing changes at the meter or the tap today. The value is reading headlines with a clear eye. When a company claims a breakthrough, check what was actually shown, how many units exist, and who outside the company has reviewed the work. The same habit helps you weigh promises about cleaner, cheaper computing against the AI data centers environmental impact your community already lives with.
Where it stands now: the robot dog is a lab demonstration, not a working product. Cortical Labs' biological data centers remain small pilots, and their performance on real workloads is still unproven. Expect more claims as the company presents research later this year. This week, pick one AI headline from your feed and check who confirmed it before you share it. Be Prepared Not Scared!
