From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Wed Jan 02 2002 - 07:51:14 MST
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,48892,00.html
Teams of sniffer robots may someday scour land and sea, using their artificial
snouts to root out mines in places and situations humans would rather avoid.
At least this is the goal of a team studying the lobster -- a creature
considered a paragon of odor analysis -- in order to create a robotic version
of the lobster's snout.
"The idea is that evolution has developed the lobster antennule (nose) to do
the job very efficiently, and if we can understand how it works, we can
replicate it," said John Crimaldi, assistant professor of engineering at the
University of Colorado.
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"We now know the mechanism they use to do this, the speed they have to go
at -- we have all these rules. We've learned the physical design that you
would need to put chemo-sensors onto a robotic version," Koehl said.
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment, malevolent AI,
non-sensory experience, SETI
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
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