🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <51292@dime.cs.umass.edu> connolly@rabbit.cs.umass.edu (Christopher Ian Connolly) writes:
>In article <1992Jul31.232606.5964@constellation.ecn.uoknor.edu>,
>rwmurphr@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Robert W Murphree) writes:
>
>>Bug behavior is simple enough that it seems to be
>>simulatable by modern control theory and computer hardware.
>
>Without a clear view of the neural substrates of insect behavior, what
>are you really simulating?  The most you can say is "See, my robot
>acts a bit like a cockroach." -- not a very impressive statement.  My
>opinion is that before one can say things like "robotic insect", one
>is obligated to provide some sort of clear model which explains *why*
>the thing should be regarded as insect-like.

"Why" an insect robot should be regarded as insect-like does not have to 
do with how much it looks like an insect in operation, but rather if
it shows, if not the same survival strategy as an insect, an adequate 
survival ability.  By "survival" I don't mean, "can it withstand attacks
by leopards", but "can it negotiate and traverse complex terrains without
getting trapped".  That's not to say surviving leopards is unimportant,
but one thing at a time, if you please.

Mimicing bug gaits may be interesting, but it is by no means an complete 
end to producing adequate machines that can survive.  Currently, we
cannot can even approach the power/materials/weight aspects of insectoid 
morphology.  Therefore, the question is not so much "how do we copy an 
insects nervous system", but "can and how do we adapt observed insect 
nervous system structures to the brand of metal bugs we're creating".

We steal bug strategies for two reasons:  they're available and sufficient
for the task, and they seem to exhibit sufficiently simple behavior that 
we vainly believe we can figure them out.

Point is: anthropormorphic designs may be valid for Ma Nature and computer
simulations, but don't expect them to work well for real-world robots.
Severe redesign is necessary to make metal behave like bone (or exoskeleton).

Is all.


-- 
Mark Tilden: _-_-_-__--__--_      /(glitch!)  M.F.C.F Hardware Design Lab.
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