Add your Article
- Chemistry and Materials
- Getting the dirt on carbon
- The metal detector in your mouth
- Music of the Future
- E Learning Jamaica
- Results of GSAT are in schools this week
- E Learning in Jamaica WIN PRIZES and try our Fun Animated Games
- 2014 GSAT Results for Jamaican Kids
- GSAT Exam Preparation Jamaica
- 2014 GSAT Results for Jamaican Kids
- How are students placed after passing the GSAT exam
- 42,000 students will sit for the GSAT Exam in two weeks
- GSAT Exams Jamaica Scholarships
- GSAT Practice Papers | GSAT Mathematics | Maths
- GSAT stars reap scholarship glory
- GSAT Scholarship
- GSAT Mathematics
- How a Venus Flytrap Snaps Shut
- 42,000 students will sit for the GSAT Exam in two weeks
- Math is a real brain bender
- Parents
- Choosing a Preschool: What to Consider
- Children and Media
- Expert report highlights the importance to parents of reading to children!
- Space and Astronomy
- Gravity Tractor as Asteroid Mover
- A Dead Star's Dusty Ring
- Planet Hunters Nab Three More
Nonstop Robot
Published: 07/01/2010
In some of the scariest science fiction scenarios, evil robots refuse to die, no matter how fiercely people fight back. Now, science fiction has edged into science fact. For the first time, researchers have created a robotic machine that can take a beating and keep on trucking. Developed by scientists from Cornell University and the University of Vermont, the new robot looks like a spider with four legs. Until now, even the most advanced robot was almost certain to break down when damaged. That's because its internal computer simply doesn't know how to operate the machine after its shape has changed. To get around this problem, the spidery robot's developers equipped their invention with eight motors and two sensors that read how the machine is tilting. The motors and sensors all provide electrical signals to the machine's software. Using this information, the system follows a new procedure to figure out the machine's shape at any given moment. The program chooses from among 100,000 possible arrangements of parts. From there, the computer considers a wide variety of possible next steps, and it calculates how best to move the robot forward the longest possible distance, before trying to move again. The new strategy is a major advance in robotics, scientists say, and it's far from scary. The technology may someday help researchers create better artificial limbs that give new freedom to people who lack arms and legs. The new knowledge might also help scientists understand how people and animals figure out their own sense of place in space. "Designing robots that can adapt to changing environments and can compensate for damage has been a difficult problem," says neuroscientist Olaf Sporns of Indiana University in Bloomington. "This work provides a new way toward solving this important problem."—E. Sohn
Nonstop Robot
