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"Cyber-Roach" Forces Rethink On Animal Movement

Lanxon writes "A team of researchers at the Royal Veterinary College in London has built a 'cyber-cockroach' (a cockroach wearing an accelerometer in a tiny backpack) to try and better understand the movements of many-legged animals. They found that unlike bipedal creatures, animals with more than two legs don't adjust their movements when walking over a softer surface." The academic paper is available from the Journal of Experimental Biology. This research will be helpful in finding better ways for multi-legged robots to navigate difficult terrain.

41 comments

  1. The coolest thing about the Robo-Roach by Gizzmonic · · Score: 4, Funny

    That robo-roach used to be a human guy, I think he was Czech? Anyway, he woke up one morning and he was a bug. And just when he started getting used to that, they put some cyber-helmet on him and started doing weird experiments on him! Talk about a shitty life!

    --
    (-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
    1. Re:The coolest thing about the Robo-Roach by sourcerror · · Score: 1

      +1 for the Kafka tie-in

    2. Re:The coolest thing about the Robo-Roach by foniksonik · · Score: 1

      +2 for the RoboCop tie in.

      --
      A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
  2. Cyber roaches are old stuff by mangu · · Score: 2, Funny

    Cyber roaches have existed for nearly 25 years. Call me again when you have the cyber T-Rex.

    1. Re:Cyber roaches are old stuff by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 1

      1993 called, they said you can't have their animatronics.

    2. Re:Cyber roaches are old stuff by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      1954 called, it said, "Get off of my lawn!"

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  3. I for one... by mujadaddy · · Score: 1

    welcome this priority realignment on migration from our Cyber-Roach Forces.

    --
    Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
    "Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
    1. Re:I for one... by Kell+Bengal · · Score: 1

      I'm glad I'm not the only one who read that as Cyber-Roach Forces reconsidering their ambulatory strategies to no doubt increase their already terrifyingly lethal capabilities.

      --
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      altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
    2. Re:I for one... by Mat'nik · · Score: 3, Informative

      The animal movement really needed this rethink.... i'm glad someone finally forced them. Good job Cyber-Roach!

    3. Re:I for one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I didn't consider that interpretation, but it's far more hilarious.

      I read it like so: Cyber-Roach [invention] forces [a] rethink on Animal Movement. Not as being the literal movement of animals, but a reconsideration of some animal-rights activist group.

      Seriously, WTF. Worst headline ever.

  4. Really? by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 1

    This research will be helpful in finding better ways for multi-legged robots to navigate difficult terrain.

    I thought I saw a video where they took an "AI" Unit, gave it a bunch of simulated legs, and told it to brute force its way into walking to move a distance, knowing only how to move joints. I believe it was a 6 legged thing, sprawled out on the floor to start with. They were kind of hoping for a spider-like walking thing to be procedurally generated this way, but what they found was that it kind of slinked itself along more like how you would imagine a starfish moving along the ocean floor.

    I found it quite interesting. I thought this kind of simulation would be best for brute-forcing our way to learn the best movement options for various setups across multiple terrains. All thats required really is algorithms to determine what method of movement is most energy efficient, time efficient, or whatever efficiency you're looking for.

    Perhaps those calculations in large numbers right now are just a little too intensive for todays computers? I dunno.

    1. Re:Really? by u17 · · Score: 1

      It's been done many times, not just in simulation but in real robots. See, for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZf8fR1SmNY . Learning basic movement, or learning to navigate in a maze, without knowing what your available effectors do, but being guided by some kind of reward signal, are problems commonly solved by "reinforcement learning" techniques. The "Q-learning" instance demonstrated in the above video may seem brute force at first, as it begins with random exploration, but as it progresses, it focuses on "good" actions and hopefully converges towards an "optimal policy".

    2. Re:Really? by Black+Gold+Alchemist · · Score: 1

      Another good example is here. The system actually learned gates for the Aibo dogs that were better than human designed gates.

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      Virtue is a temptation
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  5. A bit of a stretch by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... animals with more than two legs don't adjust their movements when walking over a softer surface ...

    ... should probably read "some insects don't adjust their movements when walking over a softer surface". To extend this claim from cockroaches to all animals is so stupid it doesn't even rise to the level of "bad science."

    1. Re:A bit of a stretch by spazdor · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I thought this same thing.

      "Trivially disproven using a cat and a blanket."

      --
      DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
    2. Re:A bit of a stretch by Locke2005 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not "more than two legs", animals with 6 legs don't need to adjust their movements because if they only move 3 legs at a time, they are always inherently stable. Animals with 2 legs, and to a lesser extent animals with 3, 4, or 5 legs (depending on gait), do need to adjust their movement for different terrains to avoid falling over. Yes, if you are going to build a "walking" robot for harsh terrain, 6 legs appears to me to be the way to go. One legged robots -- not so much.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    3. Re:A bit of a stretch by EdZ · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, cockroaches can get over some crazy obstacles with little to no change in gait, That big honking joint in the middle? With just that, they can clime obstacles as tall as they are. Yes, they can switch to a wave gait for really big stuff, but most of the time they simply move their muscles in exactly the same way, and rely on the dynamics of their leg joints to conform them to the surface passively. It's an extraordinarily elegant and efficient way of moving. There's a lot of work in the field of passive-dynamic robotics aimed at modelling this sort of movement, allowing robots to move using legs with far less energy than they do at the moment, by designing them so a lot of the work in moving the limbs is done massively.
      Lookup some of Dr. Roger Quinn's work. I can't find the videos he showed at a recent lecture in the UK, but they demonstrated how the much-maligned Whegs are really a lot cleverer than they look.

    4. Re:A bit of a stretch by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      s/massively/passively/

      You make a much better argument for my point than I did.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    5. Re:A bit of a stretch by ivandavidoff · · Score: 1

      I think even "some insects" is a stretch. It's not scientific even to say "all cockroaches" until they try it out on more than one.

    6. Re:A bit of a stretch by BoogieChile · · Score: 1


      Yeah, just one question, though;

      How many land animals with six legs or more that aren't insects are there?

    7. Re:A bit of a stretch by BoogieChile · · Score: 1


      Wait, I just remembered the crustaceans....

      Sorry, my bad, carry on.

    8. Re:A bit of a stretch by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      Spiders - 8 legs. They're arachnids, not insects. Ditto for scorpions, ticks, etc.

      Mammals - Siamese dogs, cats, etc. (Ever see a 6-legged chihuahua? Kind of gross, actually. Still-borne, in a jar. It's mother was BIG for a chihuahua - more like a largish cat)

    9. Re:A bit of a stretch by TheLink · · Score: 1

      I found this video interesting:

      http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_full_on_animal_movement.html

      You'll see how they modded a live crab so it could run across a mesh net at near full speed, no change in gait, whereas previously it would have problems.

      This video was done in 2005 so the "rethink" definitely happened way before 2010 ;).

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    10. Re:A bit of a stretch by The_mad_linguist · · Score: 1

      Hey, they said "animals", not "all animals". As long as you find a couple of them somewhere, you're good to go.

    11. Re:A bit of a stretch by AmberBlackCat · · Score: 1

      My first thought was maybe things, that are really lightweight, don't make any adjustment when traveling over soft surfaces.

    12. Re:A bit of a stretch by EdZ · · Score: 1

      That was a great talk, thanks for the link.

  6. what about human movement? by SethJohnson · · Score: 0



    Horribly, this research will likely contribute to a successful implementation of the human centipede.

    Seth

  7. Why the lame photoshopped picture of a cockroach? by viking80 · · Score: 1

    So why the lame photoshopped picture of a cockroach with a backpack? Is TFA unable to produce any documentation at all from images to data?

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  8. The hard part... by sconeu · · Score: 1

    was getting the roaches to use the tiny hydration packs in the backpack.

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  9. Did any one besides me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Think that the title was "'Cyber-Roach' Forces Rethink On Animal Rights Movement"?

    1. Re:Did any one besides me by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 1

      Think that the title was "'Cyber-Roach' Forces Rethink On Animal Rights Movement"?

      No, of course not. Just you.

      --
      "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
      --- Jerry Garcia
    2. Re:Did any one besides me by Paracelcus · · Score: 1

      Yup, I don't know why but you're right.

      --
      I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
    3. Re:Did any one besides me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was similarly confused by the title. I thought it was about implanting a computer into a cockroach's brain in order to control it, and people were protesting it as a violation of animal rights.

      And then I read the summary which I think is also misleading; "built a 'cyber-cockroach' (a cockroach wearing an accelerometer in a tiny backpack)". I don't think that would be considered a cyber-cockroach either; I think they used the data from a real cockroach to create a computer simulation - and that's the cyber-cockroach.

  10. Damn by Ogre332 · · Score: 1

    i thought this story was about e-weed.

    --
    Shut up brain or I'll stab you with a Q-Tip. - Homer Simpson
  11. i wonder... by hitmark · · Score: 1

    how this knowledge will be used to improve on this beast:
    http://www.vubx.com/featured/hexapod-ant-robot-lifelike.html

    --
    comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
  12. Re:Why the lame photoshopped picture of a cockroac by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    I noticed the same thing. The roach is blurrier than the pack. What they did is misleading, and poorly done.

  13. Anonymous Coward. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Could it be that roaches no need to change the rhythm because only weight 7 grams? Its not the same a robot of a few pound compared to a roach.

    I'm pretty skeptic when science guys compare insects with robot behavior.

  14. What an image in the article by lordmetroid · · Score: 1

    Journalists, you do realize the cockroaches do not actually carry a backpack with an accelerometer in it, right? I am quite certain that the scientists simply glued the accelerometer to the cockroach and called it a day!

  15. Animal Movement by CaptDeuce · · Score: 1

    I thought it was referring to the animal rights movement and why did they care about cockroaches? Forcing them to wear backpacks?

    --
    "Where's my other sock?" - A. Einstein
  16. How do they "do it"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From the article:
    "cockroaches don't stiffen their 'pogo stick' "

    I am completely mystified...
    How do they "do it" then?
    The mind boggles