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Like A Cat, New Robot Lands On Its Feet
eckenheimer writes "Students at the Physics Department at Drury University have developed a robot that uses motions and contortions of its body
to orient itself in zero gravity. According to the project site, 'If you've ever seen a cat land on its feet after falling while upside down then you've seen the idea behind our project.' The effort is a proposal for the NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program."
Now that's using "motions and contortions".
Sigs cause cancer.
...to stick on its back and we'll have an antigravity engine.
Here you go. It is not a very "pretty" robot but it could have its uses.
Actually, it's the short falls that tend to kill cats. Cats (like skydivers) can assume a position that reduces the terminal velocity and presents the greatest surface area for impact, reducing the force per unit of surface area. It takes a while to rotate and get into the position, so if the fall is too short, the cat will land in an awkward position and is far more likely to die.
This is not to say that the cats that fell from a great height were uninjured - just that they were more likely to have non-fatal injuries.
This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
the acceleration due to gravity might result in an unpleasant aftermath
Actually, it's the deceleration when meeting the ground that is usually the culprit.
"Damn, Bob... Did you see that? He might have made it if that cab driver hadn't run over him."
"Yeah, Pete. Let's take this tabby up to the 23rd floor. Oh, by the way, did you hear they're working on a robot that mimics this sort of behavior."
"I think I did read something about that, Bob, but tossing an expensive piece of hardware out the window just isn't as satisfying."
"You've never owned a Mac, have you, Pete?"
In grad school one of my physics professors wrote a paper on orienting onself in zero g with no net angular momentum. One student was just convinced it was impossible. Soon thereafter we were visted by Story Musgrave (one of astronauts who fixed Hubble) and the professor told him of the paper. Story immediately sat down on a swivel chair and demonstrated the motion necessary to turn in zero g without grabbing on to anything. It's interesting how a concept that caused some interesting debates among the students suddenly became obvious when it was directly demonstrated.
"No one brings a clearly dead cat to the vet."
If the fall is high enough, the odds of living decrease and therefore no cats are brought to the vet unless they miraculously survived. The study self-selects for those cases. Ergo...bad stats. Grrr...the bane of my social sci existence.
do the math you twit. Perpetual motion is still impossible because toast doesnt care what side it lands on when it's already got fur all over it.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
As an individual who has participated in the RGSFOP program, I have seen a number of novel experiments, but this particular experiment is a retread that has been done many, many times. Last March, for example, Washington-St. Louis did a very interesting experiment involving zero-gravity orientation of a space vehicle. The typical RGSFOP experiment fails, however, although my University did experience a success this year.
A list of active RGSFOP teams