Scientists have created a brainy, four-legged robot resembling a starfish that can sense damage to its body and, on its own, think up a way to recover. A snippet from Reuters is as follows:"In the beginning, the robot starts off and does not know what it looks like. You look at it, and you see that it's a four-legged machine. But the robot itself doesn't know that. All it knows is that it could be a snake, it could be a tree, it could have six legs," Lipson said in an interview.
Lipson said the robot used various movements of its joints, first to generate hypotheses and then to formulate an accurate conception of itself.
The researchers then tested the robot's ability to adapt to new situations -- in this case injury -- by shortening one of its legs. "The robot knows something's wrong," Lipson said.
This plucky robot responded by generating on its own a new concept of its structure, accurately sensing it had been altered, and then devising a new way to walk using a different gait to compensate for the injury.
Link: Reuters
Image: Yahoo News
Tags: Robot | Robotics | Technology | Tech
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