Guy Ben-Ary

Removing Some ‘A’ from AI: Embodied Cultured Networks

We embodied networks of cultured biological neurons in simulation and in robotics. This is a new research paradigm to study learning, memory, and information processing in real time: the Neurally-Controlled Animat. Neural activity was subject to detailed electrical and optical observation using multi-electrode arrays and microscopy in order to access the neural correlates of animat behavior. Neurobiology has given inspiration to AI since the advent of the perceptron and consequent artificial neural networks, developed using local properties of individual neurons. We wish to continue this trend by studying the network processing of ensembles of living neurons that lead to higher-level cognition and intelligent behavior.

MEART: The Semi-Living Artist.

Here, we and others describe an unusual neurorobotic project, a merging of art and science called MEART, the semi-living artist. We built a pneumatically actuated robotic arm to create drawings, as controlled by a living network of neurons from rat cortex grown on a multi-electrode array (MEA). Such embodied cultured networks formed a real-time closed-loop system which could now behave and receive electrical stimulation as feedback on its behavior. We used MEART and simulated embodiments, or animats, to study the network mechanisms that produce adaptive, goal-directed behavior. This approach to neural interfacing will help instruct the design of other hybrid neural-robotic systems we call hybrots. The interfacing technologies and algorithms developed have potential applications in responsive deep brain stimulation systems and for motor prosthetics using sensory components. In a broader context, MEART educates the public about neuroscience, neural interfaces, and robotics. It has paved the way for critical discussions on the future of bio-art and of biotechnology.

Embodying Cultured Networks with a Robotic Drawing Arm

The advanced and robust computational power of the brain is shown by the complex behaviors it produces. By embodying living cultured neuronal networks with a robotic or simulated animal (animat) and situating them within an environment, we study how the basic principles of neuronal network communication can culminate into adaptive goal-directed behavior. We engineered a closed-loop biological-robotic drawing machine and explored sensory-motor mappings and training. Preliminary results suggest that real-time performance-based feedback allowed an animat to draw in desired directions. This approach may help instruct the future design of artificial neural systems and of the algorithms to interface sensory and motor prostheses with the brain.

Bio-engineered Brains and Robotic Bodies: From Embodiment to Self-portraiture

Guy Ben-Ary is an artist and researcher at SymbioticA: the Centre for Excellence in Biological Arts, at the University of Western Australia since 2001. The biological laboratory is his studio, and tissue engineering, electrophysiology, and other biological techniques are his artistic mediums. His work explores a number of fundamental themes that underpin the intersection between art and science; namely life and death, cybernetics, and artificial life. This paper examines the methodologies and theories that underpin his artistic practice by using four major projects as examples: MEART, Silent Barrage, In-Potentia, and cellF, with discussion of terminology, ethics and the idea of robotic embodiment as an artistic strategy.

cellF: a neuron-driven music synthesiser for real-time performance

ABSTRACT cellF is the world’s first neuron-driven synthesiser. It is a collaborative project at the cutting-edge of experimental art and music that brings together artists, musicians, designers and scientists to create a cybernetic self-portrait. cellF is an autonomous, bio-analogue electronic musical instrument designed to operate independently and interact with human musicians. The instrument is controlled by a bio-engineered neural network or ‘brain’ derived from skin cells using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology that is housed in a custom-built synthesiser ‘body’. This paper introduces the cellF project highlighting the background, bio-technology, embodiment, design and performance capabilities.