The U.S. Army Models Future Robots on Squirrels
Scientists have taken an extraordinary step at the University of California at Berkeley: testing new robots for the US Army on … ordinary squirrels.
Forbes has previously written that to remain competitive; the US Army has created an Army Talent Management Task Force to meet the current and future needs of the fighter jet. Precisely, the Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) team shape the creation and implementation of a holistic Officer / NCO / Civilian Talent Management System.
Now research has continued on proteins.
In particular, the military is studying squirrels to understand why they are so damn good at sneaking around to get their hands on delicious peanut treats. In fact, according to the army, squirrels are so good at “reading” obstacles, mindful of their physical limitations, that they rarely fall.
This quality of squirrels is something that a modern robot cannot replicate. Locomotion is a whole complex area of robotics for one reason: cars are pretty good at falling and getting stuck. So, according to the idea, a bio-inspired approach – using the ubiquitous backyard squirrel as a test case – could help military and search and rescue robots navigate even the roughest terrain.
Yes, the US Army has already deployed a wide range of flying drones. However, drones hardly have to overcome significant obstacles – they are in the air all the time. Ground drones can collide with many obstacles, some of which are controllable and some are not. For example, determining whether it can climb a pile of stones or jump over a trench are such difficult questions that a robotic brain must answer quickly in the field.
Over the years, robotics has studied other living things, such as the gecko and the cockroach, to create flexible robots. The robotics market is now evolving in huge strides. Statista cite data that the global robot market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 26 percent and reach just under $ 210 billion by 2025. This market is predicted to reach the $ 100 billion mark in 2020.
Now, however, the focus of robotics has shifted to an even more complex problem: figuring out how robots can learn to make decisions about movement in fractions of a second based on their mechanical constraints.
It is where the squirrels come on the scene. Researchers study them in Berkeley by observing their jumps and movements, forcing them to run for a treat.
The work could also help autonomous robots make more informed decisions in real-time, according to executives from this experience. “By studying how squirrels decide how to jump and land to reach their goal, we can learn more about how future systems engineering and dedicated development team make decisions and act to respond to scenarios they weren’t trained in.”
Berkeley scientists also hope their work can benefit search and rescue robots. Robots can enter destroyed buildings or dangerous cracked buildings and overcome obstacles. These practical experiments can lead to software testing services such as https://mlsdev.com/services/software-testing to create software for any company and its needs easily.
Author’s bio: Anastasiia Lastovetska is a technology writer at MLSDev, a software development company that builds web & mobile app solutions from scratch. She researches the area of technology to create great content about app development, UX/UI design, tech & business consulting.