Official announcement from the involved institutions

Harvard and Google DeepMind Develop AI-Powered Virtual Rat Mimicking Real Movements for Robotics

Jun 13, 2024, 04:03 AM

Researchers at Harvard and Google DeepMind have developed a virtual rat with an AI brain that accurately mimics real rat movements. This virtual rodent, powered by an artificial neural network, operates a biomechanically realistic model of a rat, providing insights into neural circuits and motor control. The AI was trained using data from real rats, allowing it to predict the structure of neural activity across various behaviors in a physics simulator. This breakthrough offers potential advancements in robotics, as the virtual rat's ability to replicate complex movements could lead to more agile and intelligent robots. The study, published in Nature, highlights the use of deep reinforcement learning to compare real and virtual neural activity, particularly in the sensorimotor striatum and motor cortex, shedding light on how the brain controls movement.