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Does the Octopus Hold the Key To Robot Design?
balancedi writes "Simultaneously controling 8 jointless arms without getting them all tangled up is a neat trick that octopuses do with ease. According to a National Geographic article several researchers from around the world think understanding the octopus holds to key to the optimal robot design."
Does the Octopus Hold the Key To Robot Design
Even deeper question is, in which arm?
Free XBox, PS2
But I'm more inclined to think that these guys probably have a lot more interesting robotics applications than octopusii do.
Unless they think that making robots taste delicious is the secret to robot movement. Mmm... octopod
Doc Oc has known this for decades. ...in other news, Robotics Scientists often fall asleep during Spiderman movies and have epiphanies in the mornings following.
My prediction: Slashdot article in the near future about the possibility of armored soldiers riding anti-gravity sleds pumped up with performance-enhancing drugs.
Perhaps they can figure out a way to replicate other octopus-like behavior, too. Like, say, squeezing into a bottle half it's size. I mean, that'd be great for all kinds of thing, consider what...
oh, wait...nevermind...
Next in the news:
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
The octopus as an optimal robot design? Did none of them see The Matrix?!
Somebody warn them before it's too late!
That green slime had it coming.
Better, more efficient Shakespeare. 1 million octopi typing on 1 million keyboards would produce the works of Shakespeare 4 times faster than those damn dirty monkeys.
It holds, like, 8 of them.
Great!
Now whack it over the head and take it from him. We've been looking for that.
Damn octopi...
Does the octopus hold the key to robot design? I think the more important question is: Does the octopus hold the key to totally awesome robot design?
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
Mystery Men
Some times I drive it around town. I get pulled over a lot, but I think it's worth not having to worry about traffic.
Pretty Pictures!
If they go down this path, it is obvious that Marvel Comics' world domination plans will be complete! They will simply use intellectual property lawsuits based on the Doctor Octopus character... oh Stan Lee, what evil hast thou wrought?
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
(1) smooth, (2) pliable, (3) slippery, (4) oiled/lubricated, (5) immersed in a fluid.
That sounds a lot like the perfect date.
"If you had something--a person, say--floating in a water column or in space, a straight mechanical arm is likely to push it away," said Thomas McKenna, a project officer at the ONR. "But an arm you could use to gently wrap around an object and retrieve it, that would be useful." Also, they are real popular with doe-eyed, psuedo-asian, female superheros.
I don't want a Robot spraying me with Ink!!! Or Did I miss the point of the story ;-)
I think its safe to say most men have two brains which are constantly in disaggreement. Lower brain always raises issues at the wrong time.
After reading this startling bit from the article:
Octopuses have intrigued scientists for years, because they have both long- and short-term memory, they remember solutions to problems, and they can go on to solve the same or similar problems. They have been known to climb aboard fishing boats and open holds in search of crabs. They can figure out mazes, open jars, and break out of their aquariums in search of food.
It was a bit disheartening to see this "sponsored link" at the bottom of the article:
A Seafood Delicacy: Order Octopus
Gorton's Fresh Seafood delivers octopus - fully cleaned and freshly prepared. Delicious and mild in flavor - great boiled, stewed or grilled. Special packaging ensures freshness.
Ah, the potential irony of keyword triggered ads!
Yeah, but does ATI release linux drivers for those tentacles? Nooooooooo.
Just drop a Rubik's cube in there with it. That should keep it entertained.
My pet rock last forever and never seems to stray away.
Proving not only that octopi are clever problem-solvers, but that they can remain clever problem solvers despite drinking like fish?
"Are you telling me that an animal has to be very intelligent to not tangle its arms? Are you kidding me? It sounds like instinct or common sense, to me.."
That is probably what the octopus was thinking.
While real octopus only last a year, my giant robot octopus will last forever.....mwahahaha
Just let us know when it starts looking back at you.
Are you sure it's not dead?
"It can be intimidating at first, because they wrap their arms pretty tight around you, and everything they latch onto is pretty much headed straight to their mouth"..."But once you get used to it, I can't describe it: They feel like wet velvet or wet silk."
Sounds pretty obscene without the first sentence, doesn't it?
When we realized that humans looked back whenever we looked at them, we realized that there IS intelligent life outside the sea. (Some) humans have earned my respect.
OH darn, I'm drying up. I better go back to my tank.
*plop*
I forgot to think that one day. Worst day I've ever had.
....also makes for good japanese anime tentacle sex.
Better yet, drop four of them in.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."