# Robo-rats!  More than meets the eye!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robo-rats-more-than-meets-the-eye/106850>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 2, 2002, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robo-rats-more-than-meets-the-eye/106850 "2002-05-02T14:10:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robo-rats-more-than-meets-the-eye/106850/1 "2002-05-02T14:10:52Z")

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What a strange and wonderous thing we have here, and what potential for espionage.

> [@](#):
>
> The age of the robotic rodent is upon us. A study has shown the movements of a live rat can be controlled by using a laptop computer, a radio and a set of microelectrodes implanted into the animal’s brain…
> 
> The experiment involved exploiting the principle that an animal can be trained to do tasks by stimulating “reward” regions of the brain that normally respond to food, drink and sex.
> 
> Professor Patrick Bateson, an expert on animal behaviour at Cambridge University, said: “It’s been known for a long time that animals will work like anything to get these rewards.”

Check it out here:  
[http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science\_medical/story.jsp?story=291019](http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_medical/story.jsp?story=291019)

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robo-rats-more-than-meets-the-eye/106850/2 "2002-05-03T07:38:19Z")

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It doesn’t transform. ☹

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**Author:** ![Doubting\_Robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@Doubting\_Robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubting_Robert)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robo-rats-more-than-meets-the-eye/106850/3 "2002-05-03T17:10:58Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by rjung \*  
> \*\*It doesn’t transform. ☹ \*\*

I give up. What doesn’t transform?

Re: the OP - the part about mind-controlled prosthetics sounds wonderful.

On the other hand, one has to wonder, if one can get rats to do things by remote control, what could you get a human to do with a few wires in the right places?

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robo-rats-more-than-meets-the-eye/106850/4 "2002-05-03T20:31:39Z")

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Read the topic title again, **Doubting Robert.**

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**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robo-rats-more-than-meets-the-eye/106850/5 "2002-05-04T00:27:44Z")

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Yeah, **rjung** , but I bet with a little practice we can get them to whip up some energon cubes for us.

But hey, between rats/mice and birds this would make the most incredible spy network known to man.