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Robots to Rid Us of Cockroaches?
unassimilatible writes "It behaves like a cockroach. It smells like a cockroach. It is accepted by other cockroaches. But it is not a cockroach. It is a robot and scientists say its invention is a breakthrough in mankind's struggle to control the animal kingdom. The Sunday Times is reporting on a cool form of robotics, impersonating (inanimalnating?) animals. Leurre is a project on building and controlling mixed societies composed of animals and artificial agents. Within a decade, its inventors believe, it will be leading the unwanted pests out of dark kitchen corners, to where they can be eliminated. Additionally, they say they will soon be using robots to stop sheep jumping off cliffs and to encourage chickens to take exercise. Schematics, tools, and pictures here. Apparently, cockroaches do not wear tinfoil hats, as they are not smart enough to be suspicious of box-shaped circuit boards with an antennae sticking out."
While I hate the little buggers as much as anyone else - shouldn't we be careful of technology designed to eliminate a creature...cockroaches do eat things and they are eaten by other things. If they die, it will have harmful effects like hurting the food chain. Then again, they are insects and it is really really hard to make an insect species go extinct...
I do like the fact this can be used to do things like teach chickens to exercise (I hate my KFC being fatty), and sheep to jump off cliffs (do they do this? Shouldn't we get them like psycho-therapy?)
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
And then, soon, the only cockroaches who survive will be those who can tell the difference between a robot and a real roach.
In other words, the smart ones.
Great idea, guys.
How long until cockroaches adapt and stop following the robot? I bet it won't take very long. A cockroach can yield thousands of offspring every year.
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I'm all for our new robot cockroach overlords, but how about just cleaning your damn house?
The best way to get rid of roaches is to get rid of their food and water sources.
This is simply a robotic equivilant of pesticides... you are eliminating a symptom of the problem (Cockroaches) instead of eliminating the actual problem (Food waste, dirty houses).
If you developed little robots to pick up all all those food crumbs and eliminate any spills and puddles, the Cockroaches won't prosper.
I guess in older houses they might still eat wall the wallpaper...
94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
These types of robots will create selective pressure against roaches unable to distinguish robots as unfriendly, be it through olfactory, visual or behavioural means. There will be massive positive selection pressure for cockroaches who know their own.
Interestingly while the robots may be scented with roach smell, this puts the manufacturer in the position of a chemical/behavioural arms race with roaches to produce acceptable robots. My money is on the roaches, since they have been around for several hundred million years.
"It is plausible and realistic to imagine that in five or 10 years time, people with a cockroach infestation will be buying robots to get rid of them," Professor Deneubourg said.
... good idea, but we don't want robots that look like cockroaches to get rid of cockroaches. That's *icky.* It won't sell.
My first thought
What we want is bug-killing robots that look like cute little dolls. Now that's marketable.
Way too much Phillip K. Dick stuff has been coming true, lately. The future is creepy.
How long until cockroaches adapt and stop following the robot? I bet it won't take very long. A cockroach can yield thousands of offspring every year.
I don't know why people assume evolution comes so quickly. Say there was a robot that looked human and killed every human it came in contact with. Do you think humans would suddenly press the "darwin button" and their children would adapt to the killer robots?
It's more likely that you don't understand why you won. Study after study showed just days before the election that the vast majority of Bush voters believed Bush's policies were 180 degrees from what they actually were on a whole range of issues.
OMG the only reason you won is because the voters are DUMB! They shouldn't count! But of course in 2000 you were whining that EVERY VOTE SHOULD COUNT. Of course, you don't care about the stupid and uneducated that vote for your party do you? Would you like to look at inner city voting and see how much THEY actually know about the candidates other than "Moma told me to vote line democrat so I do".
Or you could just do what everyone else does and poor gasoline down the anthill.