Analog Robots and Sculptures
It’s no exaggeration to say that robotics is driven by technological advances. As soon as a new sensor, motor or micro-processor goes on the market, we are bound to see robots built using these new gizmos to make them smarter. This is not a bad thing for sure. We have hobby robots now as smart and capable as anything being developed by the biggest research labs. Children play with toys now that would have made scientists leap for joy only a few dozen years back.
But there is a certain charm about robots that designed with an eye for artistic flair. Low-tech beasts and bots have even managed to flourish in this day and age when everything is about pushing forward with hi-tech.
The Tiniest Creatures
Certainly solar robotics are as old as the technology to power any gadget with the sun. But BEAM robots are what made it stick.
They originally took their design from nature: simple one-celled creatures that didn’t exactly have a large range of behaviors but existed primarily from their only survival feature, seeking food. Their food is light and they do a good job, thanks to some simple light-sensitive sensors, at seeking out these sources and keeping themselves “alive” that is — in motion.
They also had help by funding from various sources like the government and NASA in their quest for planetary exploration. The idea being you can send out many low-cost robots and some will likely survive harsh environments due to sheer numbers. I don’t know that they’ve continued down that path due to funding cuts, but the idea is somewhat interesting.
BEAM has a pretty short history (20 years) but has evolved (pun intended) to a pretty interesting and diverse source of robotic inspiration for hobbyists.
Bigger and Better?
There was a great presentation on the TED website that related to a lifeform created by the Dutch sculptor Theo Jansen. These large walking “robots” derive from ideas very similar to the solar BEAM bots, only powered slightly differently — by pneumatics and wind-power.
If you have eight and a half minutes, give it a watch. Some of the ideas will be bound to stimulate the brain cells and help you develop your own anti-technology robots.
With our current climate situation, it will be interesting to see how these creatures may be called on to work in unfriendly environments in the future. We may be seeing these ambling down the street any day. It may just be possible that these simple low-tech creatures are able to survive, like rats and cockroaches, the worst situations we can throw at them and out-adapt us.
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