Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
AMouse: Bradbury's Robot Mice Get Real Whiskers
The AMouse artificial mouse is a robot with two active whisker arrays - made from real mouse whiskers. Part of the intent in building the robot mouse is to study biological models of mouse behavior and to investigate the interplay between different sensory modalities (visual and somatosensory). Science fiction fans, of course, know the real use of this research - to make Ray Bradbury's robot cleaning mice come to life.
(AMouse artificial mouse with real whiskers)
The AMouse robot consists of three basic systems: an omnidirectional camera (A) and its artificial whisker sensors (B) which are mounted on a mobile Khepera platform (C).
(Diagram of AMouse)
In setting up the whisker array (see picture below), the researchers noted that rats can move their whiskers separately in two dimensions, but mostly they move them in synchrony and in a forward/backward sweep. The selected design for the whisker array moves all whiskers synchronously in one dimension, which closely approximates the typical rat whisker motion.
(AMouse whisker array)
Each AMouse whisker is plugged directly into a capacitor microphone at the front of the robot. This capacitor can detect vibrations up to 3000 vibrations per second. The process imitates the way a real mouse uses its whiskers to sense, via the nerves in its nose.
Moving on its caterpillar tracks, the AMouse is programmed to proceed until it senses an obstacle; it then alters direction until it finds its way around it. But the robot can also sense acceleration and ground vibrations using its whiskers.
In his 1950 story There Will Come Soft Rains, Ray Bradbury wrote about a fully automated house with little cleaning robots:
Out of warrens in the wall, tiny robot mice darted. The rooms were acrawl with the small cleaning animals, all rubber and metal. They thudded against chairs, whirling their mustached runners, kneading the rug nap, sucking gently at hidden dust.
(Read more about Ray Bradbury's robot mouse)
All we need to do is get these researchers together with the folks from iRobot (makers of the Roomba cleaning robot), and we'll be all set!
If you're interested in robot mice, take a look at this SF in the News article - Micromouse Robot Builders Seek The Brass Cheese. Read more at The Artificial Mouse - A Robot with Whiskers and Vision [pdf], Robot uses whiskers and Robot feels objects with whiskers.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/25/2005)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Proof Of Robothood - Not A Person
'Who are you people? - Show 'em.' - James Cameron (1984).
Dancing Robots Taught Dance Moves
'A clockwork figure would be the thing for you...' Jerome K. Jerome, 1893.
Factory Humanoid Robots Built By Humanoid Robots
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?' - Isaac Asimov (1940).
Mornine Sales Robot
'Robot-salesmen were everywhere, gesturing...' - Philip K Dick, 1954.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'
Woman Marries Computer, Vonnegut's Dream Comes True
'Men are made of protoplasm... Lasts forever.'
Spidery 'Walk Me' Toyota Autonomous Wheel Chair Like Star Wars
Walk along with the emperor.
Dancing Robots Taught Dance Moves
'A clockwork figure would be the thing for you...'
Proof Of Robothood - Not A Person
'Who are you people? - Show 'em.'
Indonesian Clans Battle
'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
The 'Last Mile' In China Crowded With Delivery Robots
Yes, it's a delivery robot. On wheels.
Tornyol Microdrone Kills Mosquitoes
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
PLATO Spacecraft, Hunter Of Habitable Planets, Now Ready
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
Factory Humanoid Robots Built By Humanoid Robots
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
iPhone Air Fulfils Jobs' Promise From 2007 - A Giant Screen!
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
ChatGPT Now Participates in Group Chats
'...the city was their laboratory in human psychology.'
iPhone Pocket All Sold Out!
'A long, strong, slender net...'
Did The Yautja Have These First?
What a marvel of ingenuity the little device was!
Jetson ONE Air Races Begin, Can Air Polo Be Far Behind?
'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again?
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
