Researchers attached pill bugs and chitons to a robot arm to show how creatures might work with machines, but it isn't clear how useful this would be
Galipon and her colleagues have now made grippers using pill bugs – a kind of woodlouse – and chitons – marine molluscs that can stick firmly to rocks, like a limpet.
The team made custom 3D-printed housings for both organisms and attached them to a robot arm. The pill bugs picked up and rotated a piece of cotton wool for around 2 minutes before releasing it. The chitons picked up cork, wood and plastic cylinders underwater, but didn’t easily release the objects.Sign up to newsletter
While the release mechanisms will need to be developed further, the chiton’s ability to pick up cork and wood is promising, as it is a difficult task for the suction cups that are conventionally used in underwater robotic grippers, says Galipon.at the University of Birmingham, UK, but it is unclear what tasks the insects would be able to perform that current robotic grippers can’t. “It’s different, but what’s it trying to address?” he says.
There are also “all sorts of ethical questions around this work”, says Davis, particularly if researchers were to start trying to control when the animals grip and release objects. Galipon says the animals weren’t harmed; after the experiment, the pill bugs were released back into the wild and the chitons continued to live in a water tank. “Especially for sentient animals, we would like to establish a kind of mutual interaction with a cooperative relationship,” says Galipon. “It’s a little bit different from domestication, but just a cooperation, where the animal can then go about its day.
Brasil Últimas Notícias, Brasil Manchetes
Similar News:Você também pode ler notícias semelhantes a esta que coletamos de outras fontes de notícias.
Salt from space could explain where Earth got its water, U of A researchers sayFor Star subscribers: A salty discovery by scientists at the University of Arizona could bolster the idea that most, if not all, of the water on Earth was delivered here long ago inside of space rocks.
Consulte Mais informação »
Harvard Researchers Find Dogs Bite People More on Hot DaysRising global temperatures and pollution levels might have one particularly unexpected side effect: dog bites.
Consulte Mais informação »
CWRU researchers work with Cleveland rec centers to address trauma in the communityCase Western Reserve University has been working to transform Cleveland’s 22 recreation centers into trauma-informed Neighborhood Resource and Recreation Centers.
Consulte Mais informação »
GOP Targets Researchers Who Study Disinformation Before 2024 ElectionOn Capitol Hill and in the courts, Republican lawmakers and activists are mounting a sweeping legal campaign against universities, think tanks and private companies that study the spread of disinformation, accusing them of colluding with the government to suppress conservative speech online. The effort has encumbered its targets with expansive requests for information and, in some cases, subpoenas — demanding notes, emails and other information related to social media companies and the governmen
Consulte Mais informação »
New dinosaur species found in Utah helps researchers piece together Earth's historyThe bones of a previously unknown plant-eating dinosaur found in central Utah nearly a decade ago may provide new clues about how the Earth's climate changed millions of years ago.
Consulte Mais informação »
Researchers reconstruct the face of 16-year-old Anglo-Saxon girl from the seventh centuryThe University of Cambridge researchers also examined her bones, revealing that she immigrated to England from Central Europe at a young age.
Consulte Mais informação »