Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
PlantBot: Humans Provide Gift Of Greater Mobility With 'Skrodes'
Vernor Vinge wrote about a strange race in his 1992 novel A Fire Upon the Deep:
Then some unknown race had chanced upon the dreamers and decided to "help them out." Someone had put them on mobile platforms, the skrodes. With wheels they could move along the seashores, could reach and manipulate with their fronds and tendrils. With the skrode's mechanical short-term memory, they could learn fast enough that their new mobility would not kill them...
A group of gentle and advanced beings, the Play Coalition, has decided to do something quite similar for houseplants. Behold: PlantBot - solar seeking botanical augmentation.
Ravna looked across the surf. When the waves backed down the sand, she could see the Skroderiders' fronds peeping out of the spray... They sat in the surf, thinking thoughts that left no imprint on their minds...
(PlantBot by the Play Coalition: Neil, Dane and Joe)
I had the opportunity to ask Neil some questions about PlantBot:
-
Technovelgy: I enjoyed looking at PlantBot; I was wondering whether or not it had
an sort of sun-seeking robotics, or whether you've just provided legs
for easy movement.
Neil, The Play Coalition: Plantbot is fully mobile and autonomous, it's behavior is driven by basic light-seeking and IR obstacle avoidance systems. Ideally the Plantbot would be able to respond to input from a thermometer as well as atmospheric and soil-based moisture levels, but that's a bit out of our league!
Technovelgy: Where do you get inspiration for something like this?
Neil, The Play Coalition: Inspiration came from the rather lofty desire to produce objects that would innately and charmingly flirt with peoples definition/perception of life. There was also a broader motivation to play with the relationship between nature, technology and human culture.
If I had to cite specific influences the work of Eduardo Kac, Theo Jansen, Ken Rinaldo, Rodney Brooks, Richard Dawkins and jean Baudrillard would be high on the list.
Technovelgy: Any influences from science fiction?
Neil, The Play Coalition: With specific regard to science-fiction; I'd have to mention Masamune Shirow, William Gibson and how could I forget John Wyndham's apocalyptic 'The Day of the Triffids'...
(Terranaut robotic vehicle helps fish explore land)
As long as I'm thinking about it, consider the lowly cockroach given a coach; the cockroach-controlled robot created by Garnet Hertz (see also the cockroach-controlled robot video.
(From Communication in the Animal and the Machine)
From the Play Coalition; thanks to AJ for this cool find.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/19/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Vehicle ")
GoSun EV Solar Charger Drapes Onto Your Car
'...six square yards of sunpower screens.' - Robert Heinlein, 1940
'Autonomous' Waymo Improves Driving With Remote Human Operators
'...some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.' - Charles Stross, 2007
Heinlein’s Controlway - Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Corridor In Michigan
'Well, that's us,' said Lazarus.
CyberCab - Tesla Renames The Robotaxi
'A cybercab dogged their heels...' - Michael Swanwick, 1987.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Chaffeur Robot Musashi Will Drive Your Regular Car
'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
Space Exporers! Now, You Can Drink Your Own Urine
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
SpaceX EVA Spacesuit Tested By Polaris Dawn Crew
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
Automatic Bot Traffic Is 38 Percent Of HTTP Requests
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
Shanghai Guidelines For Humanoid Robots
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
Desktop TARS Robot From Interstellar
What's YOUR sarcasm setting?
Robots Can Now Have Smiling Faces With Human Skin
'I am a cybernetic organism...'
Virtual Rat Predicts Actual Rat Neural Activity
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
GoSun EV Solar Charger Drapes Onto Your Car
'...six square yards of sunpower screens.'
Rizon 4 Ironing Robot
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
Cognify - A Prison Of The Mind We've Seen Before In SF
'So I serve a hundred years in one day...'
Robot With Human Brain Organoid - 'A Thrilling Story Of Mechanistic Progress'
'A human brain snugly encased in a transparent skull-shaped receptacle.'
Goodness Gracious Me! Google Tries Face Recognition Security
'The actuating mechanism that should have operated by the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell...'
With Mycotecture, We'll Just Grow The Space Habitats We Need
'The only real cost was in the plastic balloon that guided the growth of the coral and enclosed the coral's special air-borne food.'
Can A Swarm Of Deadly Drones Take Out An Aircraft Carrier?
'The border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
WiFi and AI Team Up To See Through Walls
'The pitiless M rays pierced Earth and steel and densest concrete as if they were so much transparent glass...'
