London (PTI): British scientists have created a biological robot controlled by rat brain neurons that may eventually help them develop treatments for diseases such as epilepsy, Parkinson's and Alzheimer.

"This new research is tremendously exciting as firstly the biological brain controls its own moving robot body, and secondly it will enable us to investigate how the brain learns and memorises its experiences," said Professor Kevin Warwick, head of cybernetics at Reading University, who led the study.

The scientists, who are now trying to "teach" the robot to become familiar with its surroundings, hope to use the machine to learn more about the functioning of the brain, and eventually develop treatments for diseases such as epilepsy, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease.

"[The animat] is actively learning," said Professor Warwick. A group of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta had built a similar mobile machine, which was being trained lake an animal learning tricks.

According to the New Scientist magazine, researchers can also use sonar signals to cause the robot to swerve to avoid a wall, by triggering different signals in the "brain", which is actually rat brain tissue artificially grown in a lab.

At a July conference on in-vitro recording technology in Reutlingen, Germany, scientists from around the world had presented projects on culturing brain material and plugging it into simulations and robots, or "animats" as they are known.