University at Buffalo (UB)
Published June 29, 2018 This content is archived.
An article in New Atlas reports on research by Nils Napp, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, to develop autonomous robots that can overcome uneven terrain and other obstacles and are based on beavers, termites and other animals that build structures in response to simple environmental cues.
"When a beaver builds a dam, it's not following a blueprint," he said. "Instead, it's reacting to moving water. It's trying to stop the water from flowing. We're developing a system for autonomous robots to behave similarly. The robot continuously monitors and modifies its terrain to make it more mobile." The article includes a video produced by University Communications.
Articles also appeared in news outlets that include Digital Trends, Yahoo News in the U.K. and Canada, Tech Talk, iTechnology Updates, iNet Honduras, WNLE-TV in Massachusetts, KAUZ-TV in Oklahoma and KFMB-TV in San Diego.