Comments on: That’s Not a Squirrel…It’s a Robot!

by: Rachael

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:47:11 +0000

I really liked reading this article. I never knew that robots were used to help scientist about social behaviors in animals. I found out that there is a traveling robotic animal zoo! It is a traveling exbit that is going to a total of thirty science and natural history musems and zoos in North America. “The Robot Zoo” allows us to see the biomechanics of giant robotic animals to show us how real animals work. If features a chameleon, a rhinoceros, a giant squid with 18-foot tentacles, a platypus,a a house fly with a 10-foot wingspread, a grasshopper, a bat and a giraffe whose head and neck alone stretch 9 feet tall! This exhibit also has hands on activities for a ful learning experience! How exciting would it be to experience this in real life!
http://www.evergreenexhibitions.com/exhibits/robot_zoo/index.asp

by: Richard

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:16:27 +0000

I think that this was a really interesting article. I didn’t know that animals could be fooled by robots and accepted into their society. I have a few questions how would they squirrel communicate, move naturally, and not scare the other animals away. ” I read at this website

Information about the senses
{http://www.school-for-champions.com/senses/limits.htm}

that some animals can see a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum “ And I also found out about this interesting robot that has the brain of a rat!!!

Rat brain robot
{http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7559150.stm}

by: Erik

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:36:15 +0000

It’s some really awesome stuff! I also found out that scientists are using these robotic animals to figure out what actions may specifically OFFEND an animal. Using the robot they can test what sort of actions may actually make an animal hostile, and because the robot is in there, nobody is at risk of being injured or worse (use your imagination). Its allot better then striking a scientist in a cage with a cobra and testing which hand gestures may cause the snake to strike. I also found out that they made robotic slugs! I wonder if it leaves a trail of robo-slime…

by: Roger

Sun, 18 May 2008 14:43:21 +0000

Wow that is really neat. The fact that we can create robot animals to study live animals is amazing. I wonder what the real animals think the first time they see it, they must think it’s real according to the squirrell’s reaction. I was reading an article, and it said the military is creating robot animals, they have used robots to study sharks, and how they detect certain chemicals in the water. This is a breakthrough in technology. I wonder how techonolgy will develop withing the next 20 years? Here is the article about the sharks.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1759585&page=1

by: Andy

Sun, 18 May 2008 03:15:10 +0000

That is a really interesting post Jacob. I never knew that scientist used robots for studing animal behavior. I knew that robots are used in theme parks and other places for show. At Universal Sudios in Orlando the Jarrasic Park ride uses robotic dinosaurs. It seems to me that either scientist got the idea from our ideas or we got it from their ideas. It must be pretty hard being able to create a replica of an animal that close to the real thing. My hat is off to the person who created that squirrel cause it fooled me.

by: Richie

Sun, 18 May 2008 02:09:24 +0000

I hear all the time about how technology and the modernization of the world has destroyed ecosystems and caused the extinctions of thousands and thousands of animals. All i seem to hear is depressing things about how we are destroying the world with our human creations. This post was great for me because it really brightened my day up a bit. It showed me that not all modern machines are bad for the enviroment. This post is a great example of how we as humans can use our God given intelligence to create machines to benefit the natural world. I think people should use this as a motivational post and be motivated to excell in their studies so that they too can invent magnificant creations such as these to benefit our world and save thousands of animals and their enviroments.

by: jake

Sun, 18 May 2008 01:59:54 +0000

wow Jacob, Thats Crazy!! I mean who would have thought that we were able to go undercover as a squirrel in order to understand their behavior. Does anyone know if test have been run to observe animals reaction to bizzarre behavior from other animals? This could show animals response to foreign situations, without any previous knowledge or experience.

by: Stevie

Sun, 18 May 2008 01:27:30 +0000

Jacob, love this post! Technology and humor all rolled into one! This idea really has great potential though. If we can simulate animal behaviors with said robots, it’s quite simple to see the reactions of other animals to those behaviors. We could apply this to basically any animal we can easily observe and that does not have the intelligence to detect the presence of the robot. If we were to use it on an animal like a chimpanzee, or even a human, then it might be in effective. I’m a little confused though. In the case with the parrot, you said they had a “conversation.” Parrots are mimicking birds, and they simply mimic the noises they hear. Were they speaking to each other in the English language, or were they communicating via other sounds or some other method of communication?

Great post!

by: steven t

Sun, 18 May 2008 01:13:12 +0000

wow, ive never heard of robotic animals seving research purposes. this should be helpful because it will allow scientists to examine animals in a very natural way and give us true information on their interactions and responses to other animals. hopefully it will enable increased understanding of animals. it would be interestting to see if larger animals could be “replicated” accurately and give us information on some more unknown animals. i read on fox news that some scientists wonder if the robots are just used to be clever or if they can really answer questions that couldnt be answered before. hopefully thhis isnt the case but i wonde how this technology will develop

by: morgan

Sat, 17 May 2008 20:56:36 +0000

That is soo cool! and that is gennius!! Who would think of making robotic animals to study behavioral and other patterns within a specie/ population. As I wass researching actually I came across one of these occurances. Scientist plant electrod chips in 5 mice’s brain to try to find nuero “specialized networks” in the brain but in the meantime they learned that mice can understand some of the human language especially directional terms such as turn left or turn right! Its all here on this website
http://futurefeeder.com/index.php/archives/2005/06/17/robotic-animals-implanting-mice-with-speech-recognition/

by: Monica

Sat, 17 May 2008 19:35:05 +0000

here is the video that Miss Baker showed to our class about the Orchid Wasp Mimic
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-h8I3cqpgnA

by: Monica

Sat, 17 May 2008 19:23:56 +0000

Wow! That squirrel looks so real! This reminds me of a plant that Miss Baker was telling our class about. She showed us a short clip of a plant that was disguised as a bee and it even smelled like a female bee to attract other bees to come mate with it. The plant does this because when the bees would think they are mating, the flower is actually rubbing off some of its pollen onto the bee so that it can pollinate other flowers! Cool post!