Nordic startup deep tech has made a major breakthrough in artificial Intelligence with the development of the world’s first fully functional robot. “digital nervous system” Learning that is autonomous. IntuiCellOn March 19, 2025, announced that it had successfully developed AI which learns and adjusts to its environment like biological organisms. This could render current AI paradigms ineffective for many applications.
This innovation is a major departure from static models of machine learning by replicating how biological nervous systems learn. IntuiCell technology is different from conventional AI, which relies on massive datasets and forward propagation algorithms. It allows machines to directly interact with their environments.
“IntuiCell has decoded how learning occurs in biology and engineered it as software for the first time,” In its press release, the company describes the breakthrough as “moving beyond static machine learning models (the mainstay of traditional AI) by creating a fully functional ‘digital nervous system’ capable of scaling naturally to human-level intelligence.”
This company has demonstrated its innovation through “Luna,” A robot dog learns how to stand and control his body through trial-and-error, just like a baby animal. Luna, the robot dog released by this company in video footage, is seen learning how to stand up without instructions. It relies on its digital nervous system and does not have any intelligence pre-programmed.
“Unlike traditional AI models that are bound by static training data, the robot dog – dubbed Luna – perceives, processes, and improves itself through direct interaction with its world,” The company has released a press release.
The Technology Works
IntuiCell’s innovations are based on a fundamental change in the way machines learn. IntuiCell uses a different approach to AI than conventional systems, which process huge datasets using static algorithms. It mimics how animals and humans learn.
Viktor Luthman (CEO and co-founder of IntuiCell) highlighted the distinction in his announcement. Luthman claims that while traditional AI may be adept at data-processing, it is still lacking in intelligence. In contrast, their bioinspired system allows machines interact and adapt to their surroundings using unprecedented methods.
This system architecture is a major departure from the standard neural network. IntuiCell created technology which functions like a spinal cord in a human body, creating an infrastructure that allows for autonomous learning. The system is part of an overall project to mimic the processing abilities of the thalamocortex – the region of the brain responsible for world modelling and sensory processing.
IntuiCell’s Digital Nervous System uses decentralized learning algorithms that mimic brain processes, rather than backpropagation and large training datasets. This architecture allows AI agents to acquire knowledge through direct experience and adapt to new situations in real time—capabilities that have been elusive in traditional machine learning.
Its biological roots are reflected in the practical application. IntuiCell will use dog trainers instead of programming behavior or feeding data into conventional algorithms to train their AI agents. The approach is a major departure from the usual AI development methods, focusing on real-life interaction rather than computational scale. The work of Dr. Udaya Rongala, Researcher and co-founder, is the result of 30 years’ neuroscience research that focuses on intelligence emerging from nervous system dynamics and structure.
“The obsession with brute-force scaling, billions of parameters, more compute, and more data is an artifact of a fundamentally wrong approach to achieving intelligence,” Rongala is a notched note. “IntuiCell is not chasing a bigger-is-better paradigm. Intelligence is not our end-goal, but our starting point.”
IntuiCell’s technology is designed to help create “the first real-world teachable systems; machines that learn from us, in the same way as we would teach a new skill to an animal.” This company is working on a digital nervous system. “the infrastructure for all non-biological intelligence – empowering others to solve real-world problems we cannot foresee today, without a reliance on massive training datasets.”
(Source: IntuiCell)
Research Foundations and Team Expertise
The foundation of the company is built on 30 years of neuroscience research conducted at Lund University. Professor Henrik Jörntell, a co-founder of IntuiCell and neurophysiology professor at the university, has led what the company describes as “the only lab in the world capable of recording intracellular single-neuron activity across the entire nervous system,” IntuiCell’s unique technology is built on a scientific basis that’s unmatched.
Leaders of the team include experienced entrepreneurs, researchers, and experts in business, neuroscience, AI, robotics and other fields. In addition to Luthman, Jörntell, The following are some examples of how to get started: Rongala, the founding team includes Dr. Jonas Enander, a medical doctor with neuroscience expertise; Linus Mårtensson, lead developer responsible for translating research into software; and Robin Mellstrand, COO with background in AI-driven technology companies.
IntuiCell has secured €3.5M in funding from investors including Navigare Ventures and SNÖ Ventures. The company plans to finish the development of the complete digital nervous system in the next two-years, and the goal is for any physical or digital agent with “lifelong learning and adaptation to the unknown – capabilities once considered unique to biological creatures.”
Luna’s demonstration is a compelling example of how IntuiCell can transform AI by creating AI systems that are capable of learning, adapting and evolving autonomously through interaction with real people.
