DailyDirt: Bio-inspired Robots

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Tue, Apr 5th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Humanoid robots are pretty cool, but robot designers are also looking at other kinds of animals that would make for useful robotic mechanisms. By mimicking nature, engineers might also learn how to make robots move more efficiently. Here are just some examples where biology inspired specific robotic designs.

The robotics firm, Festo, created a robotic bird that seems to fly very naturally. This SmartBird can autonomously launch, fly and land... but it doesn't respond to breadcrumbs thrown on the ground. [url]
The Festo AirJelly is a wacky-looking robot that looks like a jellyfish in the air. A solar-powered AirJelly that could stay aloft indefinitely would be really cool -- especially if it could also act as a wireless communications tower. [url]
Mimicking certain crickets, robots from Australia shoot doughnut-shaped vortices of air at each other. The crickets use these puffs of air for silent, covert communications... don't know why robots wouldn't just use encrypted radio transmissions. [url]
To discover more interesting robotics-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: airjelly, biomimicry, robots, smartbird
Companies: festo

13 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 5 Apr 2011 @ 5:18pm

Who says pneumatically-transmitted messages can't be encrypted? Also, this may be harder to intercept than a radio broadcast (though I'd imagine a laser transmission would be even better).
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Nom du Clavier (profile), 5 Apr 2011 @ 5:26pm

That air jelly might be all kinds of awesome when combined with the Serval project's mobile phone mesh network.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Apr 2011 @ 5:27pm

I would imagine that non-electronic communications would be highly desired by both the military and police forces. Until they were in widespread use, any messages would not be intercepted.

Nor would pneumatically-transmitted messages be subject to EMP from atomic blasts that would certainly damage traditional forms of communication. Whether the crickets could be hardened against radioactivity is the question.

Last, if these messages could be transmitted over distances, they would not be subject to radio frequency jamming.
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 5 Apr 2011 @ 5:52pm

Watch Out For Genetic Algorithms
Genetically-programmed robots can often �cheat�.

For example, I was reading in New Scientist a few years ago about a robot that was programmed to try to figure out how to fly. That is, it was given wings it could flap, and legs it could stand on, and given the goal of maximizing its altitude.

So what does it do? It stands up on its legs and stretches up to its full height.

Second try: the goal is modified to not involve stretching up to its full height.

This time, it finds a book on the desk nearby, and raises itself by climbing on top of that.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Apr 2011 @ 6:25pm

Re: Watch Out For Genetic Algorithms
I believe that is a flaw in the definition of flying by the researchers and not a problem with the algorithm, much like piracy is a problem of definition and not in fact a problem at all.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Apr 2011 @ 6:43pm

And now Disney is jealous of the German researchers :)

Haptic Radar could also give people spidey like senses.

If you get a pressure sensor, with vibrators, you can not only communicate you can sense in the dark, just like the spiders hairs do, the thing is sensing the minute pressure differences that occur in the environment is difficult to sort out.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Apr 2011 @ 6:50pm

Cute little video of a robot cleaning the desk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quzwHqjgrDw
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Bruce Burbank, 5 Apr 2011 @ 6:53pm

That air jelly sure is graceful doing its nifty little ballet. But that sure does seem like quite a controlled environment. What happens when you get that thing outside and a big ol' gust of wind hits it? Followed by another and another....?
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Apr 2011 @ 7:00pm

Festo - Air Penguin

Maybe someday we will be exploring places using air robots.
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Michael Ho (profile), 5 Apr 2011 @ 7:31pm

Re: Watch Out For Genetic Algorithms
That reminds me.... I vaguely remember there was an experiment where some FPGAs were set to "evolve" to produce a square wave generator... and the chips "cheated" to accomplish the goal by copying and modifying an ambient 60Hz signal from unshielded electronics in the lab...
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Apr 2011 @ 8:36pm

Re: Re: Watch Out For Genetic Algorithms
Unbelievable even computers pirate things now, what a shame.
You can't even trust machines anymore.

Sarcasm hint: LoL
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Apr 2011 @ 8:38pm

Re: Re: Watch Out For Genetic Algorithms
One more:

That is it, even machines now want to be freetards, those machines should be destroyed because they endanger the lifes of artists.

That is no copying is downright theft.
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Carl, 6 Apr 2011 @ 4:02am

Air puff comms
...don't know why robots wouldn't just use encrypted radio transmissions.

To me, the value of this is the lack of being detected during a covert op. A radio signal's location can be detected, even if it's content isn't readable.
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