Robotic rat uses AI to befriend real rodents

A robotic rat on wheels has learned how to interact with real rats while mimicking the rodents’ play and fight behaviours.

“[The] robotic rats have similar appearances and movements to animals, and even the same odour,” says Qing Shi at the Beijing Institute of Technology in China. “It has become an important tool for exploring individual or collective rats’ behavioural responses.”

The robotic rat, which Shi and his colleagues developed, has two front arms, a…