WETA Working on Robotic Lizard For Science

Roland Piquepaille writes "The tuatara, which is both related to lizards and snakes, is one of the planet's oldest reptile species. It's been living in New Zealand for about 200 million years. Scientists still don't know much about their behavior, so they've asked Weta Workshop, a Wellington-based company known for its work on 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, to build a robotic male tuatara. It is equipped with cameras which will help the researchers to discover how real male tuatara attract and keep females. The goal is to help conservation managers to the genetically fittest, most productive males. But what will happen if a female tuatara discovers that the robot is an impostor?"

Comments

Er...how?

[Ambvai]

Maybe I'm missing the point here... but are they trying to replicate the appearance and behavior of an animal to study the behavior of real version of the animal? ...I sense a logic error. But really- what about all the chemical signatures? Hormones, pheromones, various smells, etc.

Re:Er...how?

[pimpimpim]

I agree. Imagine that realdolls are actually a scientific project from aliens, equipped with cameras and wireless transmitters, for the sake of studying human replication behaviour. Now imagine the kind of image these aliens would get from human replication behaviour, this would be rather skewed, wouldn't it.

Also imagine how the slashdotters will behave towards their realdolls after having read this. Or better, try your best not to imagine any of this.

Re:Er...how?

[pimpimpim]

Ah, your comment gave me the solution! Indeed, the Tuatura is, by itself, hardly able to use the tools needed to buy themselves a robot Tuatura for their casual sex pleasure. So, what do they do? They leave their Tuatura planet and start a milion year journey through space, until they found a planet with creatures that have opposable thumbs. These creatures were dumb as shit, but that was not a problem for the Tuatura, as they can influence any creature with their mind waves. Now, this doesn't go particularly fast, also because Tuaturas tend to stop doing anything at night. But they don't mind, they have time enough anyway. What is happening now, and all our technological advancement in general, is just nearing its end in the creation of the final goal, the robot Tuatura sex slave. Damnit man, we're voluntarily building it for them! And you call us more intelligent than them! Did anyone ever gave YOU a robot sex slave for free?

I have additional evidence for the Tuaturas being aliens, so it must be true: Remember that Poster in the creationism museum telling us that after the fall of Eden it was harsh work for all of us? Well, think about what Tuaturas do all day! They just sit around on a warm rock in the sun waiting till some small insect comes by that they eat. Is that harsh labor? Also, isn't this an extraorddrinary intelligent way to spend your day, instead of working your ass of for a meager salary? These are not from here dude.

Behavior isn't as complicated as we think

[Anonymous Coward]

Mark Tilden is the father of robots that mimic biology. What he has clearly demonstrated is that behavior, especially in insects, obeys very simple rules.

His insect robots have almost no processing power and yet mimic the behavior of real bugs very well.

Based on Tilden's experience, it would seem that these lizard? experimenters may actually be on the right path.

http://home.earthlink.net/~douglaspage/id25.html

Extinction

[N. P. Coward]

But what will happen if a female tuatara discovers that the robot is an impostor?

Complete Satisfaction?

The're not lizards!

[kithrup]

The tuatara isn't actually a lizard (any more than a crocodile is). They're pretty neat reptiles -- as a poster notes below, they have a "third eye" (they're not unique in this regard, some iguana species do as well, but not as well-developed as the tuatara's) -- and they require cold temperatures. Non-New Zealand zoos that get tuatara have to have triple cooling methods.

Re:pineal gland

[rohan972]

the tuatara has vestigal third eye. According to wikipedia ...

Widipedia does not refer to it as vestigial, it gives some possible functions:
"Its purpose is unknown, but it may be useful in absorbing ultraviolet rays to manufacture vitamin D,[7] as well as to determine light/dark cycles, and help with thermoregulation.[8] Of all extant tetrapods, the parietal eye is most pronounced in the tuatara. The parietal eye is part of the pineal complex, another part of which is the pineal gland, which in tuatara secretes melatonin at night.[8] It has been shown that some salamanders use their pineal body to perceive polarised light, and thus determine the position of the sun, even under cloud cover, aiding navigation."

it is interesting that the pineal gland is thought to be a vestigal third eye.

Neither is the pineal gland thought to be vestigial. The reference to the "third eye" in the "Mythologies, cultures and philosophies" section.

there is a clear relation between visualisation/consciousness and an eye.

A relationship between visualisation and eyes? You don't say!