Rats Doom: Shoot Demons Now

Rats Master Doom: Lab Rodents Now Navigate and Shoot in Virtual Reality

Imagine lab rats not just scurrying through mazes, but blasting demons in the classic game Doom. Recent breakthroughs in rodent virtual reality have elevated this quirky experiment, enabling rats to move, explore, and now fire weapons in immersive digital worlds.

The Evolution of Rat-Powered Gaming

Researchers have long used virtual reality to study animal behavior, but training rats to play Doom marks a fascinating milestone. Initially, rats ran on spherical treadmills, their movements translated into in-game navigation. These setups mimicked real-world exploration while mapping rodent actions to virtual environments.

Hungarian neuroscientist Viktor Tóth pioneered one such project in 2020. He suspended rats in harnesses over polystyrene balls equipped with sensors. As the rats ran, the ball's motion controlled the Doom character, rewarding exploration with treats and gentle feedback.

Upgraded Rigs: From Navigation to Combat

The latest advancements transform these experiments. Engineers upgraded the visual system to a curved AMOLED display that wraps around the rat's field of view. This provides a panoramic, immersive view far superior to flat screens, closely simulating a virtual Doom level.

Spatial awareness comes via targeted air puffs to the rat's snout upon hitting walls, offering non-invasive feedback. Most strikingly, rats now control shooting. Physical actions trigger weapon fire, allowing them to engage enemies directly. Rewards reinforce successful behaviors, from movement to combat.

• Movement: Forward, backward, left, right via treadmill running.
• Shooting: Dedicated input for firing at foes.
• Feedback: Air puffs for collisions, treats for progress.

These open-source, hacker-friendly rigs avoid invasive neural interfaces, relying solely on external sensors and reward-based learning. Training remains gradual, as rats associate physical efforts with abstract game outcomes.

Distinguishing Live Rats from Neuron Cultures

Not all rodent Doom projects involve live animals. Separate efforts grow living rat neurons on multi-electrode arrays connected to the game. These cultures receive sensory inputs like enemy proximity or hazards, outputting signals to control movement, shooting, and interactions.

Pleasant tones reward kills, while annoying sounds penalize mistakes, encouraging adaptive play. Though speculative, this probes biological computation without whole animals. Live rat VR, however, focuses on behavioral neuroscience.

Scientific Insights Beyond the Fun

These experiments reveal how rodents process virtual spaces, mirroring human cognition. Rats anticipate actions mentally before executing them, akin to people. Findings could inform robotic prosthetics, aiding those with mobility challenges by mapping motor actions to digital controls.

VR mazes for mice predate Doom setups, but adding combat complexity tests navigation, decision-making, and learning. The technology matures, shifting limits from hardware to training protocols.

Conclusion

Rats playing Doom with shooting capabilities showcase ingenuity at the intersection of gaming, neuroscience, and engineering. Far from gimmicks, these projects unlock deeper understanding of animal intelligence and virtual interaction.

While rodents won't top leaderboards soon, their progress hints at broader applications in research and assistive tech, blending play with profound discovery.