Slashdot Mirror
MIT Robot Walks On Water
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at MIT have solved the
mystery of how water striders propel themselves across water surfaces and in the
process have created a robot called Robostrider
that mimics the behavior. With cool stuff like this, it's no wonder
MIT is number one in engineering."
Can it turn that water into wine?
C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
Slashdot had a case of the mondays and frogot itself
"Failure is not an option, it's part of the standard package"
Actually there are several people who thing that MIT's direction in AI has gone seriously awry. Marvin Minsky (though somewhat stodgy), has pointed out that MIT's focus in robotics is no longer on figuring out how to make things that do stuff for people, but on subhuman gadgets.
So, yeah they may be number one, but in a way, they've let down the old guard of AI researchers.
Still, this is quite cool.
There are lives at stake here!
If the water's polluted enough, anyone can walk on it.
The coolest voice ever.
but dead last in babe-filled orgies!
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Free your mind.
... somebody will soon use the word 'overlords', and it won't really be funny.
Yes, this particular research project is very cool.
However, since it was mentioned in the original post, I will say that USN&WR's rankings are flawed, and do not necessarily reflect the quality of research taking place at a particular institution. In fact, a significant portion of their rankings are based on name recognition alone, which has nothing to do with quality of research.
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Power to the Peaceful
In case the site is slow, here's a mirror to the link in the article.
it's no mystery as to how they stay afloat. the big question was how they propel themselves
BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
The question is about propulsion, not weight-to-surface tension ratios sufficient for flotation. This research gives a better explanation of the mechanism by which the water skimmers move with such great efficiency (namely by created subsurface vortices with their middle pair of legs) and puts to rest the notion that it is attributable to the waves themselves created by a rowing action.
MIT is number one in engineering.
Robostrider is made out of a 7-Up can, stainless steel wire legs and an elastic band coupled to a pulley to power its middle legs.
Too much 7-Up and not enough beer being consumed for it to be a fair contest. They should increase their beer consumption to that of other colleges and level the playing field.
To know that you know what you know, and that you do not know what you do not know, that is true wisdom. --Scooby Doo
Can't upset the censors.
J
HALtheComputer's 5 step alchemy course for the twenty-first century
Step 1. Take a beaker full of wine.
Step 2. When no one is looking dump the beaker out and refill it with wine. (to obtain this "no one looking" state I suggest an elaborate ruse: something along the lines of, "Look, whats that over there?")
Step 3. Incorporate
Step 4. Go Public
Step 5. PROFIT !!!
P.S. If you plan on submitting this plan to a venture capitalist you could at least spell check it first. I'm far too busy to concern myself with mundane things like spelling.
If it can walk on water - does it run on linux?
Actually, if you RTFA, while the bot has been seen walking on water, it has not yet been conclusively demonstrated to be a religious figure among other robots. Therefore a crucifixion would at this point be premature, as it would not make the water-walking bot a martyr to solidify and justify the faith of millions of robot minions for millennia to come.
I found the meaning of life the other day, but I had write-only access.
The actual measure of the number one school engineering is the school with the highest number of graduates as actual astronauts serving with NASA..
That record past and present is held by Purdue University...
Don't Tread on OpenSource
Charles river (the river that MIT stands on) is always covered by a film of oil which is approximately one inch thick. You don't have to be a freaking rocket scientist to build a robot which walks on *that*.
I passed the Turing test.
You see, science is not about only making big breakthoughs on things in you direct field of interest. A lot of it is small discoveries, that are used down the road in ways that people didn't think of when they made the discovery.
I'm sure no one could possibly know yet. How is grinding little pieces of glass to play with light and images going to help anyone? (He writes while wearing corrective lenses.)
end of line
It's much to early to tell how this will help us build better boats or water based technologies. If we already knew how to apply the technology, we wouldn't be researching to understand the science of what makes it work.
end of line
The scale of water bugs goes from .5" to 10", its more of a function of keeping the surface area of the 'legs' in proportion with the weight and balance of the rest of the body.
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Do not walk where I am fishing.
Help fight continental drift.
Just to save everyone the trouble, the third robot the fluids lab appears to be working on is a 3-segment swimmer.
On the linked page http://www-math.mit.edu/%7Edhu/Striderweb/striderw eb.html
Someone has blotted out the intimate details of the waterstriders mating ritual. Is he seriously worried about offending someone, or is he worried about hosting a porn site? Who says political correctness has gone wrong... This is just pathetic.
...small discoveries, that are used down the road in ways that people didn't think of...
Excellent point. Sex toys and porn were not on the minds of the engineers when they were developing their respective techn...
Awwr, who the hell am I trying to kid?
http://pcblues.com - Digits and Wood
They did; this is the rerun.
> The question is about propulsion, not weight-to-surface tension ratios sufficient for flotation
Unfortunately the article doesn't make that very clear. They could spell out that the issue is locomotion, not flotation. At first I thought, what the h3ll, it's obvious that they're floating because they're not breaking the surface tension. But then they kept talking about moving and skimming and swimming, so it dawned on me that they're talking about how the walker generates forward motion on a near friction-less medium. That's where the vortices come in, quasi as a surface to push against.
Robostrider is made out of a 7-Up can, stainless steel wire legs and an elastic band coupled to a pulley to power its middle legs.
I'm not sure what would bother me more to see upclose in the pool, a Vietnamese Water Strider, or a 7-Up can with legs...
Business \Busi"ness\, n.;
A scam in which all people involved perceive as beneficial...
MIT students are FAMOUS for their excesses. Drugs, Alcohol, Sex, you name it. So don't kid yourself. Most MIT kids are getting way more than their RDA of beer and liquor.
I've met MIT frat boys (yes, MIT has real frats, and real frat parties.) whose frats had "drug budgets" and an officer of Drug Procurement. I've been asked to leave frat parties because they didn't want me competing for the girls I came with.
MIT kids are not dorky and innocent. Anyone who thinks so is in for a surprise.
several people who thing that MIT's direction in AI has gone seriously awry
What does this have to do with AI?
The research reported on is primarily about fluid dynamics. Robostrider is a catchy thing they've created to bring attention to the important findings. In fact, seeing as the strider is powered by a rubber band, not only does it not have anything to do with AI, it has nothing to do with robotics either.
This doesn't mean it's not wicked cool.
For more cool (without downloading a video), check out david hu's beautiful strider pics.
My theory that Jesus was really a robot sent from the future finally has some evidence to back it up!
Everywhere else it's known as RoboAragorn.
This sig contains a manual self-destruct. Kindly please put your foot through your monitor in 8 seconds.
Researchers at MIT have solved the mystery of how teenage boys satisfy themselves several times daily and in the process have created a robot called Robostroker that mimics the behavior.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
I can count more unemployed MIT grads in today's economy than hair on my head. No, I am not bald.
It's articles like this pointing MIT #1 that forces so many employers to fear hiring these engineers nowadays. They are so smart that if they innovate something... they are considered a waste.
It doesn't matter, I'd hire this person to the exclusion of his peers at MIT. Why? It's creative, I didn't think about it, and I can use someone whose brain works like that.
I can hire coders & designers easily. They're a dime a dozen. I can hire GOOD -> excellent coders or designers more difficultly by talking to friends of friends etc, but they exist and are plentiful enough. To hire someone that will build a rediculous thing that no one has really seen before, carry that design through to completion, and make headlines...that person I'd pay a lot of money to. He'll make me filthy rich if I'm nice to him.
I don't know about water boats, but knowing MIT students you'll probably see these things floating in a few water bongs.
I can't figure this out. I'm an apathetic agnostic (by which I mean that I care so little about religion and the question of the existence of deities that I can't even bother to call myself an atheist) and I generally find the Christian Science Monitor to be one of the more reputable publications here in the US of A. Maybe people see the word "Christian" in the title and fly off the handle?
Take a look at it, for crying out loud. The CSM is not some kind of slobbering fundamentalist rag. It's a mainstream news and information source. On the front page, I can't see a single article that could be even remotely construed as fundy jibber-jabber (Pete Sampras is retiring?) The way a lot of Slashbots react to it, you would think they were referring to something like WorldNetDaily, a site which drips with xenophobic, anti-minority, anti-gay, anti-non-Christian, borderline-fascist rhetoric.
People who are inclined to bash the Christian Science Monitor should at least take a look at it before they flame away. They might be surprised.
* Playah Robot
This automaton goes out to the clubs and picks up women and brings them back to your place. The Playah Robot never complains about getting stuck with the fat chick.
* Voicemail Robot
This robot will save you from wasting time in voicemail hell with your local utility company, diligently pressing 1 for English, 7 for other, 3 for other, and 0 to speak to a human, and after an hour and a half will notify you that a human has answered the phone and is ready to speak to you.
* Alibi Robot
This robot corroborates your story to your girlfriend that you were busy studying last Saturday night.
* Beer Run Robot
With alternate "Mountain Dew" plugin available.
In oversimplified english, sub-surface vortices are swirls in the water immediately below the surface of the water.
"Stumble before you crawl"
And yet they haven't made a robot that can walk up walls like a gecko.
No, MIT haven't made a wall-walking gecko-robot yet, but Berkeley have, and so have DARPA.
Maybe people see the word "Christian" in the title and fly off the handle?
I'd bet some people see "Science" in the title and confuse it with the Church of Scientology.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;