AI-trained robotic rat created by Chinese institute to study rodent behaviour: Report

The result of the initial experiments was that the real rats used to get afraid if the robotic rat acted aggressively but also exhibited playful behaviour if the robot interacted in a friendly manner.

A Chinese institute has developed an AI-trained robotic rat which is capable of engaging in playful as well as aggressive (fighting) actions, to study social behaviour of live rats.

According to a report by New Scientist, Qing Shi at the Beijing Institute of Technology said, "The robotic rats have similar appearances and movements to animals, and even the same odour. It has become an important tool for exploring individual or collective rats’ behavioural responses."

The artificial intelligence (AI)-trained rat has been designed to closely mimic physical characteristics of a real rodent.

It has been equipped with a bionic spine, eyes, two front arms, and wheels for moving around.

The two arms were created keeping in mind flexible movement like any other rat, and to carry out actions like touching, eating, reaching out objects, etc.

According to the publication's report, the wheels have been placed in the place of hind legs, aiming to enhance speed and mobility of the robotic rat.

The robotic rat has been developed to encourage genuine interactions with live rodents as they happen to find lab environments lonely and/or stressful when kept in isolation or overly crowded conditions.

The main purpose for the creation of a robotic rat is to help in analysing and studying emotion, social behaviour, and perception in live rats.

Technology including artificial intelligence has been used to create this robotic rat to make it more socially acceptable by the real rats.

According to New Scientist, the artificial rat has been trained to replicate different rat behaviours including aggressive pinning, social sniffing, playful pouncing or nose touches with other rats.

The AI rat was further covered with rat urine to cover up the real scent of the robot and make it more similar to real rats and their odour.

A series of experiments were conducted where the robotic rat was placed with a real rat for more than three hours.

The robot approached the real rat and initiated social interactions which were friendly and aggressive at different times.

The AI rat learned to adjust its behaviour with time after it observed the real rat's actions.

The result of the initial experiments was that the real rats used to get afraid if the robotic rat acted aggressively, but also exhibited playful behaviour if it interacted in a friendly manner.

According to the publication's report, making a robotic rat with advanced AI technology and training has set a new standard in the robot-animal interaction.

The robot's ability to adapt to different situations makes it valuable for studying animal behaviour, which might lead to improvement in the well-being of the animals that are part of laboratory environments.