Through NTNU biotechnology initiative, coordinated by Professor Stig W. Omholt, a project to develop a Cyborg (cybernetic organism), a combination of machine and living tissue, has been started. In this project, the aim is to enable communication between living nerve tissue and a robot. The social and interactive cyborg will walk around the campus raising awareness for biotechnology and ICT, bringing NTNU in the forefront of research and creating a platform for interdisciplinary collaborations and teaching.
A robot base has been purchased, which will act as the robots transport and navigation platform. Associate Professor Øyvind Stavdahl, at the Institute of Cybernetics (ITK), has supervised the selection of the robot base though engaging several students working with the NTNU Cyborg as master thesis project. Associate Professor Sverre Hendseth (ITK) also has several students engaged in the same way. The neurological part of the project, which involves the cultivation of nerve cells, is under development at the medical faculty (DMF). The project is administrated by project directors Stefano Nichele (IDI) and Jan Onarheim (IET).
Work on the cyborg is currently being carried out in separate subprojects. The robotics part is under development and the ambition here is to have an autonomous robot walking in Glassgården, Elektrobygget by 2016. The robot should then approach people when they come close, greet them and maybe even invite them to be friends on the robots facebook page. This will be realized through several projects and master's theses, as well as through EiT villages.
