 |
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
|
 |
PlantBot: Humans Provide Gift Of Greater Mobility With 'Skrodes'
Vernor Vinge wrote about a strange race in his 1992 novel A Fire Upon the Deep:
Ravna looked across the surf. When the waves backed down the sand, she could see the Skroderiders' fronds peeping out of the spray... They sat in the surf, thinking thoughts that left no imprint on their minds...
Then some unknown race had chanced upon the dreamers and decided to "help them out." Someone had put them on mobile platforms, the skrodes. With wheels they could move along the seashores, could reach and manipulate with their fronds and tendrils. With the skrode's mechanical short-term memory, they could learn fast enough that their new mobility would not kill them...
A group of gentle and advanced beings, the Play Coalition, has decided to do something quite similar for houseplants. Behold: PlantBot - solar seeking botanical augmentation.

(PlantBot by the Play Coalition: Neil, Dane and Joe)
I had the opportunity to ask Neil some questions about PlantBot:
Technovelgy: I enjoyed looking at PlantBot; I was wondering whether or not it had
an sort of sun-seeking robotics, or whether you've just provided legs
for easy movement.
Neil, The Play Coalition: Plantbot is fully mobile and autonomous, it's behavior is driven by basic
light-seeking and IR obstacle avoidance systems. Ideally the Plantbot would
be able to respond to input from a thermometer as well as atmospheric and
soil-based moisture levels, but that's a bit out of our league!
Technovelgy: Where do you get inspiration for something like this?
Neil, The Play Coalition: Inspiration came from the rather lofty desire to produce objects that would
innately and charmingly flirt with peoples definition/perception of life.
There was also a broader motivation to play with the relationship between
nature, technology and human culture.
If I had to cite specific influences the work of Eduardo Kac, Theo Jansen,
Ken Rinaldo, Rodney Brooks, Richard Dawkins and jean Baudrillard would be
high on the list.
Technovelgy: Any influences from science fiction?
Neil, The Play Coalition: With specific regard to science-fiction; I'd have to
mention Masamune Shirow, William Gibson and how could I forget John
Wyndham's apocalyptic 'The Day of the Triffids'...
In a similar vein, readers may recall the famous Terranaut - a fish that explores land in a robotic vehicle [video].

(Terranaut robotic vehicle helps fish explore land)
As long as I'm thinking about it, consider the lowly cockroach given a coach; the cockroach-controlled robot created by Garnet Hertz (see also the cockroach-controlled robot video.

(From Communication in the Animal and the Machine)
From the Play Coalition; thanks to AJ for this cool find.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/19/2008)
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 ( 0 )
Related News Stories -
("
Vehicle
")
Yamaha Motoroid 2 No Handlebars Self-Balancing Motorcycle
'He rode the bike with an intense lack of physical grace...' - Bruce Sterling, 1998.
Should Your Car Decide If You Can Drive?
'Okay. Maybe the car was right...' - Philip K. Dick, 1963.
Honda UNI-ONE Hands-Free Wheelchair Follows 100 Year-Old Design
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...' - David H. Keller, 1928.
18 Wheels Mutant Centipede Vehicle
'If a centipede were a dinosaur and made of metal to boot...' - Robert Heinlein, 1950.
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
Wearable Energy Harvester
'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'
Drones Participate In Buddhist Rites
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'
Anna Indiana AI Singer-Songwriter
'She is a personality-construct, a congeries of software agents'
Video Manicuring ala Schismatrix
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time'
'Feel the AGI' OpenAI Leader Now OpenWorship
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'
NASA Tests Prototype Europa Lander
Why have legs if they don't walk around?
Tailsitter Drone Aircraft For SAR
'...it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair.'
Forward CarePod The AI Doctor's Office
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'
Mika The Robot-Boss
'the robot-boss was busy at the lip of the new lode instructing and egging the men on to greater speed...'
Yamaha Motoroid 2 No Handlebars Self-Balancing Motorcycle
'He rode the bike with an intense lack of physical grace...'
San Francisco Autobus
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street...'
Should Your Car Decide If You Can Drive?
'Okay. Maybe the car was right...'
Lucid Dreams On Demand From Prophetic and Card79
'the peeper did not operate by virtue of its machinery alone, but by the reaction of the brain and the body of its user...'
Honda UNI-ONE Hands-Free Wheelchair Follows 100 Year-Old Design
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'
EBS-260 Handjet Free Hand Dot Matrix Printer
'McKie held a chalf-memory stick over the dusted surface.'
Sensitive, Soft Robot Skin
'...tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
More SF in the News Stories
More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories
|
 |