Beavers and bugs inspire robotic creations
By Darren Murph 
posted May 15th 2008 3:30PM
posted May 15th 2008 3:30PM
Rest assured, this won't be the first or last time you hear of insects and mammals being used as inspiration for robotic creatures. Nevertheless, a recent MIT mechanical engineering course saw students craft bots that could handle "beaver-like tasks" such as "knocking down trees and gathering food in the form of street hockey balls" while fending off competitors in 45-second rounds. Separately, the EU-funded SPARK endeavor is seeking to "develop a new robot control architecture for roving robots inspired by the principles governing the behavior of living systems and based on the concept of self-organization." There's plenty more material to make your skin crawl in the read links below, just don't feed the mechs, okay?Read - SPARK project
Read - MIT competition
"gathering food in the form of street hockey balls"
...I am so confused
if we take away the street hockey balls, they'll starve (no hockey balls+crazy raspberries=human win)
if we take away the street hockey balls, they'll starve (no hockey balls+crazy raspberries=human win)
gorged!? on my street hockey balls? the federation will here about this.
go find mr. Darvin, and in the mean time.... someone close that door.
.... did u catch the totally random reference?
I understand your confusion.
Street hockey balls have "No nutritional value" this is why you NEVER see a breeding population of robotic beavers in the wild...
Poor bastards.
Now if they could learn to eat iphones....
Well you all see where this is going.
Give me a robotic beaver any day.
Dude, "Beaver" and "Bug" should never be used in the same sentence unless you intend on giving men the willies.
an actual robotic beaver is not what i had in mind when i read "beaver robot".
says the person who used the words "men" and "willies" in the same sentence.
Ah, the sound of inevitability!
Humanity's children descend...
Canada Is Attacking With A Swarm Of Robot Death Beavers!
eh?
no machine should handle "beaver-like tasks"
Don't they have those types of machines in Japan?
@ ugg.tryptophane.... Comment of the week! (Jerry Mathers and I are rolling in the aisles)
I believe this is the first generation of robots leading up to Mega Man bosses. I want my armored armadillo!
I'm a Beaver!
You're a Beaver!
We are Beavers all,
And when we get together, we do the beaver call!
e to the u, du dx,
e to the x, dx;
cosine, secant, tangent, sine,
3.14159;
integral, radical, mu, dv;
slipstick, sliderule, MIT!
Go Tech!
The slipstick and sliderule have now been replaced by Java and Matlab. You know, something more useful than a slipstick for the average Course 6er, and it's got a better ring than "OOP via C++, MIT!" The good news is that the beaver cheer is still getting used.
More on topic, if you're looking to check out some hot beaver action, the 2.007 finals are online: http://web.mit.edu/webcast/2.007/2008/mit-2.007-finals-08may2008-220k.ram