The future of robotics may be defined by an unlikely source: the tails of seahorses.
A new study cites the fish appendages as possible inspiration for a breakthrough after finding that its movements facilitate bending and twisting while also providing strong resistance to crushing—key components for engineers developing new technologies.
Researchers from Clemson University in collaboration with U.C. San Diego, Ghent University, and Oregon State University began their work by seeking to ascertain why seahorses' tails are made up of square, as opposed to cylindrical (as found in most animals from rodents to monkeys), segments.
"Almost all animal tails have circular or oval cross-sections—but not the seahorse's. We wondered why," explained Michael Porter, assistant professor in mechanical engineering at Clemson University. "We found that the squared-shaped tails are better when both grasping and armor functions are needed."
Popular fiction has argued the case for environmental preservation for practical benefit. Is this sort of argument the only one that gets traction in a capitalist world?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/03/are-seahorses-the-secret-to-robots.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150702151308.htm
Original Submission
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @04:13AM
Obama needs military robots, and he needs them now, because Americans are too fat and stupid to fight a war, and the Obama ecomony is entirely dependent upon glorious military service, to such a degree that anyone who is not a veteran is totally unemployable.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Fluffeh on Tuesday July 07 2015, @04:30AM
You had me at robots needing armor... Where's my mech?!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @04:39AM
Popular fiction [localroger.com] says to make a backup copy of the Earth, destroy the original, and research the copy instead.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday July 07 2015, @07:55AM
That's a near-neighbour in the seahorse's family tree. Is the squareness of the seahorse merely the corners caused by the pointy bits that this glorious mofo's gone completely overboard with? Some lizards have two rows of ridges down their backs and tails, that makes them square-ish too - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alligator_Tail.jpg .
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by khakipuce on Tuesday July 07 2015, @12:15PM
It's OK to be just interested in things. Oh look! seahorses have square tails, I wonder why...
No need to try to justify everything by invoking robots or medicine or what ever. I'm sure well educated mechanical engineers will come up with the best shapes for their needs with or without seahorses