China develops world’s first open-source brain-on-chip interface system

Chinese researchers have developed an open-source “brain-on-chip” interface system, the first of its kind in the world. The system can instruct a robot to avoid, follow and grab obstacles through “mind control,” the Science and Technology Daily reported Wednesday.

The interface system was jointly developed by research teams from Tianjin University and Southern University of Science and Technology.

The system uses an artificial brain cultivated in vitro – like a ‘brain-like organ’, which can interact with external information through encoding, decoding and stimulus feedback in combination with electrode chips, the report said.

Tianjin University researchers have applied for 15 national patents in the field of brain-on-chip interfaces, with two patents pending in the US and Britain. In the future, the team will further explore key scientific research such as intelligent communication, migration and integration in this sector, to promote the early application of the technology, Tianjin University said.

The research team from Tianjin University recently published a study in the international neuroscience journal Brain, which the report says provides a better intelligent basis for cultivating a ‘brain’.

The human brain weighs only three pounds, but it is one of the most complex substances known to the world. As an important emerging field of brain-machine interfaces, brain-on-chip is expected to promote the development of advanced technologies such as hybrid intelligence, according to Tianjin University.

The technology is still in its early stages and includes important aspects such as intelligent foundations and intelligent communications. The intelligent foundation, which acts as the central processing unit (CPU) of the intelligent entity, is at the core of achieving intelligent capabilities on the chip, with the aim of efficiently simulating and analyzing the brain.

The brain-like organ, which, despite having a structure and function similar to the human brain, still faces challenges such as low maturity and inadequate nutrient supply, the Tianjin University research team said.