Subject:
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"Adaptable" robots
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics.handyboard
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Date:
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Sat, 21 Mar 1998 19:21:47 GMT
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Original-From:
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Will Bain <willbain@cs.umt.eduSTOPSPAM>
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Viewed:
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1446 times
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At 01:13 PM 3/17/98 +0100, Jeroen van der Vegt wrote:
<snip>
> I saw a program on robotics a while ago on Discovery, and there was a guy
> who builded a complete zoo of robots consisting of only a couple of
> transistors. They did move indeed, but he said they were adapting to their
> environment, which I find hard to believe.
I did a little research through the multitude of web sites devoted to BEAM
robotics (Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics & Mechanics).
It turns out that what they mean by "adapting to their environment" is that
these insect-like walking robots automatically adjust their stride to
different types of terrain (e.g. sand versus rock, or uphill versus
downhill). Because they use simple analog electronic "nervous systems",
they automatically get feedback from the leg motors to dynamically change
the time domain response of the system, thus providing a robust, adaptable
walking gait.
Even HB 'bot builders like us could use this type of circuit to our
advantage. By building dedicated nervous net circuits, we can free up our
HBs for high-level, brain-type functions. This is how biological systems
are designed, and a billion years of evolution can't be wrong.
For an excellent tutorial on how to build and use this patented motor driver
circuit (called a MicroCore), check out the following site:
http://www.golden.net/~amiller/Microcore.htm
--Will
, ,
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~~~~~~~~~ ' ` ~~~~~~~~~~~ ` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wendy Parson, Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to
Will Bain, live for days on nothing but food and water.
& Tatoosh --W. C. Fields
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