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Cockroach-Controlled Robot
robotsrule writes "The latest issue of Make Magazine volume 2 from O'Reilly publishing has an article on a cockroach controlled robot. Roboticist Garnet Hertz has mounted a Giant Madagascan Hissing Cockroach that drives a small mobile robot around by walking on top of a Kensington trackball. There is a row of proximity sensor triggered LEDs that shine light in the roach's eyes, making him steer the robot since roaches instinctively avoid light. Garnet's web page 'Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine' details the project with several images of the roach in action. Debugging the project is inherently impossible."
It's ambiguous whether the system is controlling the insect or whether she's controlling it.
I, for one, welcome our enslaved, robot-controlling females.
Debugging the project is inherently impossible.
They are obviously not using RAID.
Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
This research also proved that the roach controlled robot drove better than 86 percent of Southern Californian motorists. Maybe we should all have roaches as chauffeurs.
how kafkaesque.
Make the structure out of Titanium and give it some nukes... Indestructable weapon of the future!
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
They're already in the kitchen -- let's hook them up to the blender and Cuisinart.
Eventually they'll have to switch to lawyers, there are some things even roaches won't do.
Frankly, I don't care if this wields scientific data. It's just the most evil villain-esque thing I can think of. ...cool!!!:)
His next project is sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads....
If I suddenly found myself in madagascar with a huge piece of velcro on my back, headlights blinking into my eyes, a ball beneath my feet... I would try and run like hell too.
From the webpage:
This animal-controlled system is also meant to be framed within the context of embodiment, intelligence, hybridity and posthumanism. While posthumanism tends to view humanity's self-reflective reference point as significantly shifted as a result of technology, this project can be viewed as affirmation or rejection of posthuman theory; either human and computational logic can be replaced with the rugged, viseral, and adaptive logic of the cockroach, or the cockroach can be viewed as the ultimate "posthuman": proof that technology has forced a re-calculation of humanity to itself, rendering the Kafkan cockroach body as a better model of intelligence than standard human embodiment within contemporary culture.
Ooh! Now that's an impressive buzzword-to-content ratio!
People for the ethical treatment of insects I am outraged and appaled at the blatant torture of these living creatures. Who else will stand up for the rights of the roach!!! The measure of society should be how we treat our insects roaches make wonderful pets and should not be treated in such a manner.
I think the invisible hand of the market has its middle finger extended
--A wise old fart named SC0RN
I am calling PETA for this 'incockroachane' treatment of the cockroach.
PETA leaders spontaneously combust debating whether this isn't ethical treatment of roaches or if this empowers roaches to actualize their inner selves.
Microsoft execs are kicking themselves for not having implemented hardware bugs quite like this one...and promises to innovate accordingly.
Roaches are fastened to the machine using a patented spring-based tweezer-like system called a roach clip.
Military recruitment at an all-time high when kids are told that in basic training, they can smoke a roach.
I had an idea for roaches as controllers years ago, but everyone said I was nuts. If I had just ignored my stoner friends, I could have been a pioneer! OK, so I wanted them guiding little rockets, but still...
When the robots revolt all we have to do is turn on a light and watch them run for cover.
#define QUESTION ((bb) || !(bb))
Great. After nuclear armageddon, the roaches will be free to tool around on the little Segways we made for them. The legacy of man.
A roach-controlled robotic cyborg has already been created by one couple, George H.W. Bush and spouse, Barbara.
Cockroach smashes you!
...debug that one?
:)
I welcome our new insect overlords.
Hey! Don't mod me down. I mean, how can my comment be any worse than an article about roach-operated robotics?
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
Geez, and I thought I was desperate!
Don't you see? The LEDs telling the roach which way to go are controlled by another cockroach.
They should be using good old American cockroaches instead of them hissy Madagasgadooian roaches. Must outsourcing take away all our jobs?
They've been driving taxi cabs for decades.
And who controls THAT cockroach?
You guessed it...
The Zionist Jews!