Bat Detection Methods Inspire Robot Development

http://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/images/graphics/Echolocation.jpg

• A scientist from Strathclyde's Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering is investigating the method bats use to "see" called echolocation.
• He set a backpack with a microphone on it in a cave in egypt to record bats and decipher their sounds.
• He hopes to use his findings to create a system for structural engineering robots to use to find flaws in structures and to report back to a team outside the flawed building.
• The research was conducted for a larger group called Biologically Inspired Acoustic Systems (BIAS) for usage in a wide variety of potential applications.

Reflection:

It is awesome that biological adaptations are being used and transformed into modern technology. Technology is evolving just like the bat itself. If a new system of Echolocation in robots works, they will sell more and be a better alternative to imagery robots. They will eventually overtake a large portion of the pie chart of robots and become a prevalent technology used throughout science and technology in every field. If the bats evolved to have echolocation, it would be amazing to see if we could make a branch off of our species that lived at night like bats and used echolocation to find it's way around. It will probably never happen though, because humans need sunlight to live. This Article shows a perfect correlation to "SEXI" It could be the exemplify portion for natural selection.

Link:

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/bat-detection-methods-inspire-robot-development/1002403.article

Citation:

"Bat Detection Methods Inspire Robot Development | News | The Engineer."Engineering News & Engineering Jobs | The Engineer. 17 May 2010. Web. 12 May 2010. .