Smiling, speaking, eating, walking – most of us take for granted the effortless ease with which we move. But behind even our simplest actions are processes of extraordinary complexity – processes that fascinate Cambridge Neuroscience Professor Daniel Wolpert.

Speaking at a free public talk tonight, Professor Wolpert will illustrate how little we know about how the brain controls the body and how much we still need to discover before we can build robots to match the movements of even a young child.

According to Professor Wolpert of the Department of Engineering: “Computers can now beat grand-masters at chess, but no computer can yet control a robot to manipulate a chess piece with the dexterity of a six-year-old child.”

How the brain is able to learn to generate such skillful movement is one of the most intriguing questions in neuroscience and, Professor Wolpert believes, its most profound.
 

“Why do we have a brain?” he asks. “We have a brain for one reason only, and that’s to produce adaptable and complex movement. Apart from sweating, movement is the only way we have of affecting the world around us.”

“Sensory, memory and cognitive processes are all important but they’re only important to drive or suppress future motor behaviour. There’s no point laying down childhood memories or perceiving the colour of a rose if it doesn’t have a potential impact on your motor output.”

Come and hear more at his hour-long talk. It starts at 6pm on Friday 19 March at the Babbage Lecture Theatre, and is free and open to all above the age of 12.

The event is part of the 22nd Cambridge Neuroscience Seminar and the Cambridge Science Festival.

Cambridge Science Festival is the UK's largest free science festival offering adults and children alike the chance to get involved in some of the University's cutting edge research between 8 and 21 March.
 

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