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
 |
Micro-Mouse Robots With Grippers Tournament
Japan has held country-wide micro-mouse robot competitions for almost thirty years. This year, they're taking it to a higher level - autonomouse (sorry) robotic mice now have gripper arms to manipulate special cylinders along the maze.
(Micro Mouse with grippers)
At specified intervals, the special micro-mice use their gripper arms to grasp a cylinder, hoist it high in the air, and then set it down on the opposite side. The event is timed; the shortest time to complete the maze and all tasks wins.
For an additional challenge, the shape of the maze is changed constantly, forcing the autonomous micro-mice to adapt.
These micro-mouse robots with gripping arms are sounding more and more like the "golden shuttles" from The Mechanical Mice, a marvelous 1941 short story written by Eric Frank Russell (Maurice A. Hugi is one of his pseudonyms).
Something small, metallic, glittering had shot through one of the rat holes, fled across the floor toward the churning monstrosity. A trapdoor opened and swallowed it with such swiftness that it had disappeared before I realized what I'd seen. The thing had been a cylindrical, polished object resembling the shuttle of a sewing machine, but about four times the size. And it had been dragging something also small and metallic.
(Read more about the golden shuttle robots)
Let's hope they don't yearn to serve the malevolent robot mother from the same story.
If you enjoy mechanical mice as much as I do, you'll squeak happily upon reading these stories:
- Micromouse Robot Builders Seek The Brass Cheese
The UK Micromouse 2004 Championship; I can't believe I used the same bad joke four years ago. - AMouse: Bradbury's Robot Mice Get Real Whiskers
A small robot with two active whisker arrays - made from real mouse whiskers. - Eco-Be! Mini Robot From Citizen
Talk about mouse-sized robots; the Eco-Be! is just 1.8 cm wide and 2.5 cm tall, and is operated by infrared remote control.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/24/2008)
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 ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Gentle Monster Robot Head
'The robot knelt before the head, lifted it slowly, and with... its strong hands placed it on its shoulders...' - Hugo Correa, 1968.
Burro Robot Follows You And Gets Smarter
'Oh, there you are! the balloon piped at the amorphous mass of living tissue...' - Philip K. Dick, 1964.
Auto-Targeting Fire Sprinkler Systems Now Reality
I think every kitchen should have one of these.
LEONARDO Robot Has Legs And Thrusters, Can Skateboard, Slackline
'a walking balloon proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs over a slant of steep upland.' - George Parsons Lathrop, 1897.
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
Swedes Get 'Chipped' With Vaccine Passports
'Employees above a certain level were implanted with advanced microprocessors...'
Gentle Monster Robot Head
'The robot knelt before the head, lifted it slowly, and with... its strong hands placed it on its shoulders...'
SpinLaunch SubOrbital Accelerator
'But it had slid, not rolled, down upon these angry fly-wheels, and in an instant, with all our friends, it had been hurled into the sky!'
Augmented Reality Palm Keyboard
'Three rows of four colored dots appeared on the heel of my left hand.'
Omni Hoverboard Envy Of Green Goblin
'I brought it back to the ship, charged it up, reprogrammed the inertia chips and voila!'
Jetson ONE Speeds Through The Forest
'Over there! Two more of them!'
Facebook's Algorithmic News Feed Knows Better Than You Do
'Their playmates were not “real,” but they were a lot realer than, say, a Betsy-Wetsy doll.'
Tselina Spacecraft Platform Destroyed In Russian Anti-Satellite Test
'pirate three-vee satellites sanded out of orbit...'
Burro Robot Follows You And Gets Smarter
'Oh, there you are! the balloon piped at the amorphous mass of living tissue...'
Tiangong Space Station! Exercise Like It's 1953
'He couldn't imitate actual gravity, of course...'
Facebook Unexpectedly Turns Away From Sfnal Face Recognition
'... the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell.'
Taihang Solar Farm Accurately Pictured In 1911
'The entire expanse, twenty kilometers square, was covered ... the photo-electric elements which transformed the solar heat direct into electric energy.'
Galaxy Z Fold 3 Perfect For William Gibson's 'Control-Face'
'Chia recognized the square as the control-face of the computer she'd seen in his room.'
Amazon Automatic Packaging Catches Up With Gernsback's 1911 Book
'The automatic packing machine could pack anything from a small package a few inches square up to a box two feet high by three feet long.'
Your Car Will Be Watching You!
'Mr. Garden, you are in no condition to drive...'
Orbital Reef: Bezos' High Orbit Archipelago
'Tessier-Ashpool ascended to high orbit's archipelago to find the ecliptic sparsely marked with military stations and the first automated factories of the cartels.'
