London:
British scientists have developed a robot rat which they claim can seek out and identify objects using its whiskers.
A team from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and the University of Sheffield has unveiled the 'SCRATCHbot' robot as part of a project to develop biologically inspired artificial intelligence systems.
According to the scientists, the robot will help in understanding how the human brain controls the movement of the sensory systems and this technology relies on sophisticated touch technology, enabling the robot to function in spaces such as smoke-filled rooms, where vision cannot be used.
The new technology has the potential for a number of further applications from using robots underground, under the sea, or in extremely dusty conditions, where vision is often
seriously compromised, they said.
The new technology has been inspired by the use of touch in the animal kingdom. In nocturnal creatures, or those that inhabit poorly-lit places, this physical sense is widely preferred to vision as a primary means of discovering world.
Rats are especially effective at exploring their environments using their whiskers. They are able to accurately determine the position, shape and texture of objects using precise rhythmic sweeping movements of their whiskers, make rapid accurate decisions about objects, and then use the information to build environmental maps, the scientists said.
A team from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and the University of Sheffield has unveiled the 'SCRATCHbot' robot as part of a project to develop biologically inspired artificial intelligence systems.
According to the scientists, the robot will help in understanding how the human brain controls the movement of the sensory systems and this technology relies on sophisticated touch technology, enabling the robot to function in spaces such as smoke-filled rooms, where vision cannot be used.
The new technology has the potential for a number of further applications from using robots underground, under the sea, or in extremely dusty conditions, where vision is often
seriously compromised, they said.
The new technology has been inspired by the use of touch in the animal kingdom. In nocturnal creatures, or those that inhabit poorly-lit places, this physical sense is widely preferred to vision as a primary means of discovering world.
Rats are especially effective at exploring their environments using their whiskers. They are able to accurately determine the position, shape and texture of objects using precise rhythmic sweeping movements of their whiskers, make rapid accurate decisions about objects, and then use the information to build environmental maps, the scientists said.
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