Rats trained to drive small vehicles

In 2019, researchers from the University of Richmond, led by Kelly Lambert, trained eleven rats to drive small vehicles. The experiment, published in Behavioural Brain Research, aimed to understand how the living environment influences learning. The results showed that rats raised in a stimulating environment were more inclined to take on the new challenge.

Custom vehicle design

A custom vehicle was built from a robotic car kit, fitted with a transparent food container as the body. The researchers used three copper bars in front of an opening, above an aluminum plate. When the rat placed its paws on the plate and grasped a bar, it closed a circuit that started the engines. Each bar controlled a direction—left, right, or straight.

Training process

In an arena 1.5 meters long, the rats had to reach a treat. Three sessions of five minutes per week, over eight weeks, were enough for them to master the vehicle. The position of the reward and the starting point changed with each trial, revealing cognitive abilities.

Stimulating environment impact

Among the eleven male rats in the study, five had grown up in a large multi-level cage full of objects to explore. These rats showed greater motivation and adaptability in learning to drive the vehicle compared to those raised in less enriched environments.