Russian scientists create world's first micro device with a 'chemical brain'

October, 16. /TASS/. Scientists from Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Kaliningrad) have created the world's first chemical neurocomputer with adaptive behavior, the principle of which is similar to the work of the brain, the press service of the university reported on Friday. "At the Center for Nonlinear Chemistry of tImmanuel Kant Baltic Federal University the scientists have been working for several years on the creation of a neurochemical computer based on the chemical reaction of Belousov-Zhabotinsky. The article "Experimental Implementation of an Optochemical Neurocomputer", published in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics journal drew a preliminary line under a long search and development of a chemical miniature device capable of behaving intelligently. The principle of operation of this device is similar to the principle of operation of neural networks," the message reads. The head of this center, professor Vladimir Vanag, whose words are quoted in the document, noted that the development of intelligent chemical microdevices is akin to the creation of a life amongst artificial intelligence. "Modern mathematical developments in AI do not imply any traces of artificial life. Our micro devices must be relatively complex, especially since we cannot use such a powerful regulatory mechanism as the genome. On the other hand, we would like to see this device relatively simple, so that it was possible to trace the operation of individual blocks of this micro device. And we would also like this microdevice to work on "chemical fuel" without using electricity. In this case, it could be autonomous," the press service quoted the scientist as saying. The basic element of a chemical neurocomputer is a microcell with a size of about 0.1 mm, which operates on the basis of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) oscillatory reaction. Several years ago, at the first stages of the research, scientists worked out the reliability of the operation of various functional units of a chemical neurocomputer. How it all works "The blocks of the chemical neurocomputer are the central pattern generator (CPG); the antenna that receives external signals; readers that determine the current rhythms of the CPG and the antenna; as well as the decision block. All these blocks consist of BZ cells, which are interconnected by time delay, which is similar to synaptic connections between neurons. The delay time between a spike in one BZ-cell and its impulse impact on another BZ-cell is similar to the travel time of the action potential along the axon ", explained Vanag. According to the scientist, at the end of testing all the main units of a chemical neurocomputer, a general concept of its operation was developed, according to which the behavior of the machine should resemble the intelligent behavior of living organisms. “Suppose the antenna can pick up four types of external signals, which represent the four types of quadrupedal movements - stride, trot, amble and jumping. At the same time, the internal block, the CPG, is also capable of generating dynamic modes that correspond to these four types of movements. We would suppose that the machine behaves intelligently if the CPG automatically switched to the mode that would be registered by the antenna in response to external stimuli. We call this behavior of the chemical neurocomputer adaptive," Vanag noted. The professor emphasized that the work was aimed at experimental embodiment of the theoretical concept of a chemical neurocomputer into a real microdevice. “This goal has been achieved. We now have the world's first chemical neurocomputer with adaptive behavior,” the researcher concluded. Read more