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Cockroach-Like Robot to Help Explain Animal Movement

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the on-all-sixes dept.

neutron_p writes "A cockroach-like robot named RHex is the starting point for a major project to understand animals' most distinguishing trait: how they move without falling over. Researchers from several universities will focus on RHex, a short, six-legged robot that scampers like a cockroach, as a working model of the principles they're seeking to uncover. By tweaking the robot and using it as a physical model, they hope to tease apart the complex neural and muscular networks in insects."

1 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Easy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Already been done!

    The best way to study their movement is to mount railguns on them, and fire them at random, confusing the hell out of the little guys...don't believe me?

    http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/205/18/ 1803/i

    Check out the picture!