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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.
If this isn't a Rube Goldberg contraption, I don't know what is.
It's very cool, but odd. I mean, seriously: shine a light in a certain way to make a Giant Hissing cockroach move in a certain direction, which then moves the robot?
I assume there are simpler ways of directing robots.
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!!!:)
The Matrix, version 0.1 proof-of-concept
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.
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.
Gromphadorhina portentosa, deus ex machina.
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.
So let me get this straight; humans are controlling a cockroach that is controlling a robot? If they're going to tell the cockroach to turn left, why not just do it directly? It seems the cooler thing to do would be to let the cockroach bump around on his own will.
...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...
These folks have constructed a fly flight simulator, where they tether a fly in front of a set of lights that form a low-resolution view of a simulated environment. They then measure the torques produced by the fly and use that data to manipulate the environment simulation, so that the fly sees its environment moving about it even though it's tethered in place. They can use this to study the behavioral responses of flies to various stimuli (like a rapidly-approaching light or dark spot simulating a fly-swatter, to examine escape response).
I guess I would be more impressed if instead of having the cockroach walk on a trackball, they used cockroach EMG to control the robot.
Isn't it cruel to use a cockroach like this?
[snip] The insects I use lead normal, healthy lives: if you don't believe me, send me your address and I'll slip some eggs under your front door.
--
Don't fight Firefox! Let FireFox fight YOU!
They should be using good old American cockroaches instead of them hissy Madagasgadooian roaches. Must outsourcing take away all our jobs?
It was a Guinea Pig, and it controled the movements of the machines limbs directly with its limbs. It was intened to reverse the psycological power relationship between people and small rodents, and the rodent seemed to enjoy it. Never shown publicly because animal rights sorts got in a tizzy about it.
Plato seems wrong to me today
They've been driving taxi cabs for decades.
I was going to make a "I, for one, welcome our new Cockroach overlords" joke as is obligatory in every /. thread. I go to -1 to do a search if somebody had done the joke.
There were 7 posts saying the exact same joke. 7 idential jokes, guys! Seriously, this is not cool. Do a search at -1 before you make the joke. Redundancy is not cool.