The main idea is to combine biology with electronics. As a result, we can expect new machine learning technologies for self-driving cars, autonomous drones or courier robots. But above all, the development will likely be used in the military field.

what is known

Researchers do not hesitate to make bold statements about their work:

This new technological capability may surpass the performance of existing silicon-based hardware in the future.
– says Adil Razi, head of the group of scientists and associate professor at Monarch University.

He adds that the results of such research will have a significant impact on areas such as planning, robotics, advanced automation, brain-machine interfaces and drug development, giving Australia a significant strategic advantage.

According to Razi, this technology It will enable machine intelligence to “learn throughout life” like human brain cells, allowing it to acquire new skills and apply existing knowledge to new tasks without losing old ones.

Scientists will grow brain cells in a dish called DishBrain to investigate this “lifelong continuous learning” process. This is a very ambitious project that will probably take a lot of time.

We will use this grant to develop better artificial intelligence machines that replicate the learning ability of these biological neural networks. This will help us advance hardware and methods to the point where they are viable substitutes for in silico computing.
– terminates the researcher.

It’s also worth noting that the same team, in collaboration with Melbourne-based startup Cortical Labs, has successfully demonstrated how a cluster of around 800,000 brain cells in a Petri dish can play Pong.