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Robot Bat With Echolocation

Posted by samzenpus on from the just-the-head dept.

productdose.com writes "A robotic bat head that can emit and detect ultrasound in the band of frequencies used by the world's bats will give echolocation research a huge boost. Sonar in water is a mature field, but sonar in air is far less advanced. Whenever a robot team wants to build an autonomous robot they look at sonar first, but they quickly run into problems due to the simple nature of commercial sonar systems, and switch to vision or laser-ranging. The IST project CIRCE hopes that the research they can now do with the robotic bat will lead to more sophisticated sonar systems being used for robot navigation and other applications."

3 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. wrong direction? by Pr0xY · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i think that these researchers are likely going in the wrong direction. The way I see it, the main problem with things like sonar isn't lack of signals or information. It's processing that information and coming up with useful data. The impressive thing about bats is that they can use the data they resieve meaningfully, not that they can recieve it. once they start writing software that can accurately map a 3d landscape on sonar alone, i'll be more impressed. proxy

  2. I wonder.. by jcr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If any biologists are reading this, I wonder if any other terrestrial nocturnal animals use echolocation? I know that some birds (owls in particular) are very good in low-light conditions, do any of them navigate with sound as well?

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  3. Re:What the fuck by utnow · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I think the general conscensus is that a combination of several methods is the best way to observe and interpret the world. Obviously visual isn't the most accurate otherwise eye-witness testimony would mean more and it wouldn't be so easy for hollywood to convince us that keanu revees can fly. Sound isn't nessicarily the best way because it's quite easy to be fooled by such things as a tennis racket being swung through the air (mwhaha). Touch isn't always 100% accurate either due to the way it's wired to the brain (try having a friend cross their index and middle finger and close their eyes. then use a pencil to touch right in the middle of the tips of their crossed fingers. very strange sensation).

    The reason we have five senses (and potentially others) is that each of them reduces the uncertainty of the observation.

    PS: If you observe certain muscles in the face, they tend to be far more relaxed when intoxicated, resulting in that stupid 'drunk gaze'.