BUGS TO THE RESCUE

NAVIGATION

FILTHY, UBIQUITOUS, and basically indestructible, cockroaches are one of the planet's more loathsome critters. But Johns Hopkins University robotics experts have learned to love them. Or at least appreciate what we can learn from them. Owen Y. Loh, a Johns Hopkins engineering undergraduate, has built a sensor-packed antenna that guides a wheeled robot in much the same way a cockroach is guided by its antennae-by touch. Tactile navigation may help robots work in dark or smoky environments that can stymie artificial vision or sonar systems. Cockroaches, of course, have no problem scuttling around obstacles and zipping around floors in unlit rooms. Loh was set to the task by Noah J. Cowan, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, who built a cruder version of the antenna as a post-doc at the University of California-Berkeley. Loh spent several months studying cockroach biology to devise an improved version. That's called getting the bugs out. -TG

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Sep 2005
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