{"id":21239,"date":"2026-07-16T13:41:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T11:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/?p=21239"},"modified":"2026-07-17T10:51:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:51:44","slug":"paperclip-when-biology-meets-engineering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/paperclip-when-biology-meets-engineering\/","title":{"rendered":"When Biology Meets Engineering \u2013 Controlling Physical Systems with Living Neural Networks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1872px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:0px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><div class=\"container\">\n<div id=\"model-response-message-contentr_082f85c7dff7acde\" class=\"markdown markdown-main-panel enable-luminous-fast-follows enable-updated-hr-color\" dir=\"ltr\" aria-busy=\"false\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\"><b data-path-to-node=\"3\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Could the future of computing be biological? As we look beyond traditional silicon chips for more adaptive and energy-efficient solutions, a fascinating question arises: Can we use Synthetic Biological Intelligence (SBI)\u2014actual living neural networks\u2014to control physical and virtual machinery?<\/b><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\">A pioneering new study, presented at ACM, explores this frontier by training biological neurons to solve a classic engineering challenge.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">The paper, titled <b data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"18\">&#8220;Toward Controlling a Cyber-Physical System using Synthetic Biological Intelligence&#8221;<\/b>, was co-authored by <b data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"123\">Pit Hofmann, Alon Loeffler, Candice Desouza, Ruifeng Zheng, Pengjie Zhou, Juan A. Cabrera, Frank H. P. Fitzek, and Brett J. Kagan<\/b>. This early-stage research is a collaborative breakthrough combining the expertise of <b data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"339\">TU Dresden (including the ComNets chair)<\/b>, the <b data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"385\">Cluster of Excellence CeTI<\/b>, and the deep-tech pioneering company <b data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"450\">Cortical Labs<\/b>.<\/p>\n<h4 data-path-to-node=\"6\">The Challenge: Teaching Living Cells to Control Systems<\/h4>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">In engineering, the &#8220;inverted pendulum&#8221; (balancing a pole upright on a moving cart) is a classic control problem used to test how quickly and accurately a system can adapt to real-time changes. Typically, this is solved using computer algorithms.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\">This research, however, explores a completely different path: using a closed-loop system where living in-vitro neural networks (neurons grown on a microelectrode array) are fed sensory data and trained to send back electrical control signals to keep the virtual pendulum balanced.<\/p>\n<h4 data-path-to-node=\"9\">Research Highlights: The Power of Biological Computing<\/h4>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">By establishing a real-time feedback loop between digital environments and living cells, the research team highlighted several key potentials:<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"11\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"11,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Closed-Loop Interaction:<\/b> The study successfully demonstrates how electrical stimulation can &#8220;encode&#8221; the state of the pendulum for the biological network, while the neural activity is decoded in real time into mechanical actions.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"11,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Extreme Energy Efficiency:<\/b> Biological brains process complex information using a fraction of the energy required by modern supercomputers and AI hardware. Harnessing SBI could pave the way for highly sustainable, low-power computing systems.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11,2,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"11,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Inherent Adaptability:<\/b> Unlike rigid silicon-based algorithms, living neural networks naturally reorganize, learn, and adapt to changing conditions\u2014making them uniquely suited for unpredictable, dynamic environments.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 data-path-to-node=\"12\">The CeTI Impact<\/h4>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"13\">As CeTI continues to pioneer the future of the Tactile Internet with &#8220;Human-in-the-Loop&#8221; systems, integrating biological intelligence directly into technological control loops opens up entirely new horizons. This study is an exciting first step toward organic-synthetic hybrid systems, showing how biological neural networks can be actively integrated into cyber-physical workflows to make future technology more adaptive, resilient, and energy-efficient.<\/p>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"15\"><\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"16\">The study is available in the ACM Digital Library. Dive into the detailed methodology of this biological control system <a href=\"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/3760544.3765635\"><strong>hier.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"17,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"17,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Authors:<\/b> Pit Hofmann, Alon Loeffler, Candice Desouza, Ruifeng Zheng, Pengjie Zhou, Juan A. Cabrera, Frank H. P. Fitzek, and Brett J. Kagan<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"17,1,0\"><i data-path-to-node=\"17,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">This work is a collaboration between TU Dresden, the Cluster of Excellence CeTI, and Cortical Labs.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":21255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[287],"tags":[294,295,298,299,296,297,292,293],"related-event-category":[],"class_list":["post-21239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-paperclip","tag-c3","tag-c5","tag-f4","tag-f5","tag-m4","tag-m5","tag-u3","tag-u4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21239"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21249,"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21239\/revisions\/21249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21239"},{"taxonomy":"related-event-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceti.one\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/related-event-category?post=21239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}