Slashdot Mirror
Researchers Using AI To Build Robotic Bees
An anonymous reader writes "British researchers at the Universities of Sussex and Sheffield are developing a computer model of a bee's brain that they hope can help scientists better understand the brains of more-complex animals, such as humans, and perhaps power artificial intelligence systems for bee-like robots. Called 'Green Brain,' the project is trying to advance the science of AI beyond systems that just follow a predetermined set of rules, and into an area where AI systems can actually act autonomously and respond to sensory signals."
...every good project has to start somewhere - and it will be interesting to see what this kind of AI modeling will accomplish. Perhaps we can learn more about bees, and how to keep them doing their busy work throughout our world without mass murdering them. ...that being said... the day they crack the secrets of modelling the human female's brain... there is where the real money will be made.
A certain Mars Rover comes to mind.
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
for (x in recognize_nearby_objects())
{
if (x.type == FLOWER) {
nuzzle_flower(x);
}
else if (x.type == HUMAN) {
sting(x);
}
else if (x.type == SMOKE) {
sleep(1);
}
else {
buzz();
}
}
"British researchers at the Universities of Sussex and Sheffield are developing a computer model of a bee’s brain that they hope can help scientists better understand the brains of more-complex animals, such as humans, and perhaps power artificial intelligence systems for bee-like robots."
Perhaps bee-like robots. Or robots that function as bees do, where they perform mundane functions over and over for the good of society.
Or to produce dogs with bees in their mouths so when they bark they shoot bees at you
These don't have to be limited to just RoboBees. The algorithm could be used for more than just pollination. Think about it. Build anything of the appropriate size to autonomously go out and collect $RESOURCE, return with a load, refuel itself and go back out. Some cursory self-defense, like hazard evasion, would be nice. Throw in some networked communication to help with discovery of sources and you have a very efficient way to accumulate stuff.
We really need your help
http://www.gofundme.com/help-sherry
Shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo make me realise we will just never understand the human brain.
Irwin Allen and James Cameron proudly present:
THE SWARMINATOR!
Homer: Bart, you’re coming home.
Bart: I want to stay here with Mr. Burns.
Burns: I suggest you leave immediately.
Homer: Or what? You’ll release the dogs, or the bees, or the dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you? Well, go ahead—do your worst!
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
emphasis on fidelity over complexity in neural simulation.
The opinions stated herein do not necessarily represent those of anybody at all. Deal with it.
Maybe these ones will be resistant to Monsanto products...
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
may possibly be the approach many of these very smart researchers use. Perhaps the focus should be on developing some kind of artifical nevous system with the abitlity to learn on its own rather than trying to program for the dynamics of real world interaction. Perhaps the folks over at Boston Dynamics may be on to something? Not sure what its learning/memory capabilites are but it sure seems to behave like it has some kind of nervous system.
Why go through the trouble of building an actual physical bee, when there are awesome 3d world and physics models that you could drop the bee brain into and it would have no idea the world was simulated. Seems like that would bee a lot easier debug. *cringe*
Natural system software incorporates rules that have builtin support for uncertainty.
Ever wondered why it takes so goddamn much processing power to fold a model of a protein? (They don't call brownian motion a "random walk" for no reason you know.)
The nervous system of that bee is fudementally influenced by biochemical interactions at thousands of locations, each incorporating a degree of randomness into the system. Instead of treating the randomness as noise, the design utilizes the randomness as an asset.
This inherent incorporation of randomness would make artifical nervous systems based on it abhorrently difficult to reliably and consistently program. Rather than programming, it would be training, and the robots would naturally develop naughty habbits, just like their biological counterparts do.
A really sophisticated one would be a health and safety nightmare.
Is this a wretched demibee,
Half asleep upon my knee
Some freak from a menagerie?
NO! It's Eric the half-a-bee!
. .
I hear them now! Oh no, the horror! .....
POLLINATE! POLLINATE!
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
But did they also make robot dogs as a robotic bee launching platform when they bark???
"The bees are fine," said the beekeeper.
While visiting a farmer's market this summer, I asked a beekeeper, "How are the bees?"
I was concerned that he had not understood my full message, so I amplified: "Nationally, I mean ... globally ... Colony Collapse Disorder ...?"
"There is no 'Colony Collapse Disorder'," he assured me. "This is an industry bugaboo, a distraction from the real problem, which is industrial-scale beekeeping.
"Oh, there are bees with mites, and diseases. But the real problem is industrial-scale beekeepers who move their colonies twice a year. When you keep your bees in Minnesota for a few months, then move them south for the winter -- move them next to industrial zones, toxic waste dumps -- then what can you expect?"
I don't know beekeeping, but this guy clearly does: the jar bears his name, his product is widely sold at grocery stores around town (Minneapolis/Saint Paul), and he had the absolute serene confidence of a man who has seen the future, knows the score, and will faithfully answer any question you care to ask.
-kgj