Subject:
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Re: Machina Speculatrix Reproduction
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Thu, 4 Mar 1999 04:22:18 GMT
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Original-From:
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Pam Durham <[pdurham1@]stopspam[ix.netcom.com]>
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Viewed:
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1029 times
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John,
Not to split hairs, but as you say you can only "simulate" an analog circuit
on a digital computer. A digital simulation of the simple two circuit
non-linear circuit contained in the Machina Speculatrix would be very very
very very very very ... involved, and at the end of the day you still
wouldn't have captured many of the interesting behaviors of the circuit.
Think of an analog circuit as a fractal picture where you look closer you
see more and more interesting detail. A digital program forces you to
choose your level of detail.
Much of the most interesting robotics work being done today, such as BEAM
robots is strictly analog. They can get very accurate animal behaviors with
simple circuits.
Saying that you can simulate an analog circuit with digital programming is
the same as saying that you can reproduce any arbitrary piece of sculpture
(say Michelanglo's David), with Legos. Yeah is sort of looks like the real
thing and its real impressive, but its not the same.
By the way, I couldn't create an interesting analog circuit if my life
depended on it, but I can do digital in my sleep. Go figure.
Doug Durham
-----Original Message-----
From: John A. Tamplin <jat@Traveller.COM>
To: Michael Gasperi <gasperi@alynk.com>
Cc: lego-robotics@crynwr.com <lego-robotics@crynwr.com>
Date: Wednesday, March 03, 1999 4:50 PM
Subject: Re: Machina Speculatrix Reproduction
> On Thu, 4 Mar 1999, Michael Gasperi wrote:
>
> > I agree. You can create some very nonlinear functions with analog that
> > would be hard to duplicate in digital.
>
> Since an analog circuit can be simulated by a digital computer, I am not
> sure I see that an analog computer is superior for robot behavior. It may
> very well be that a *simple* analog circuit is superior to an equally • simple
> digital circuit, but I certainly prefer the general purpose ability of
> a digital computer.
>
> John A. Tamplin Traveller Information Services
> jat@Traveller.COM 2104 West Ferry Way
> 256/705-7007 - FAX 256/705-7100 Huntsville, AL 35801
>
> --
> Did you check the web site first?: http://www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics
--
Did you check the web site first?: http://www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics
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