Biomimetic Robots: A Photo Gallery

Roland Piquepaille writes "Once again, technology is imitating nature with a new class of biologically inspired robots called "Biomimetic Robots." In this very long article, IEEE Computer Magazine looks at several projects currently underway. All these projects will have practical applications a few years from now. They include robotic lobsters for underwater mine research or flying insect-based robots for future spatial missions. Other projects are about cricket-inspired robots to be used in rescue missions or scorpion-like robots to be deployed in hostile environments for humans. and of course, there are the now famous and robust "sprawling" robots based on cockroaches. For more information, read the whole very well documented article. Or read this summary for a photo gallery and direct links to all the projects."

Comments

Wake me up in a few years time

[aussie_a]

All these projects will have practical applications a few years from now.

I'd like some skepticism upsized and yes I'd like some fries with that.

Sorry if I'm too skeptical, but these "great ideas just around the corner" always bring it out in me. I'll believe when I see it. Before then it's just cool ideas.

Cockroaches

[five18pm]

"We are not trying to 'copy a cockroach.' This would be impractical. And besides, who would want one?"

Lots of people? Firefighters/military/...? Has good antennae, detects movement quickly, is quick to respond, is small to go into lots of crevices, who wouldn't want one?

Re:Cockroaches

[mrchaotica]

The problem is that they're still bleeding-edge technology. The military, firefighters, etc. need the bugs to get worked out of them before they're useful. Also, just because a hobbyist can get something to work doesn't mean it's reliable enough for people like that to depend on.

Re:Wow

[luvirini]

You have to remember that in nature we are talking about solutions that have actually been tested to work. So taking general concepts from allready tested things is a good way to shorten your prototyping time.

The only part of robotics that actually has a good set of working solutions is the industrial robots. For all other branches of robotics we are still in quite early stages, where the number or working, let alone good, solutions inside the science is quite low.

Ofcourse in the end robotics is quite different from the source of inspiration, but the basic design decisions have to be based on something.

Re:Biomimetics, why?

[hypnotik]

How useful is a car in rocky terrain? Or in a dense forest? Or on sandy soil?

For that matter, how useful are wheels on any terrain other than fairly wide, even surfaces? Cheetahs don't have wheels because going 60mph over rough, uneven terrain is impractical. And we won't even talk about the agility of a cheetah compared to the agility of a car.

Building robots to mimic biology is a way of making robots more robust, better able to deal with unexpected or uneven terrain, and just all round more useful. The concept isn't that hard.