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From: altenbur@plains.NoDak.edu (Karl Altenburg)
Subject: Re: [Q] Robotic 'ants' for Pest control...
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Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 16:03:00 GMT
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John Walker (volker@iastate.edu) wrote:
: Greetings --

: I have been told (third-hand) that there is a researcher at
: MIT who is exploring the usage of small robotic 'ants'
: to perform pest control on plants.

: Other details:
: 	The 'ants' would use a mechanical 'stabber' to kill
: 		hostile insects on the plants.
: 	There would be a central 'nest' where the creatures
: 		would be recharged, etc.
: 	The 'ants' would use peziolectric (sp?) crystals 
: 		for muscles.

: Does anyone have any hints for finding this researcher ?

Both Rod Brooks and Anita Flynn have discussed this.  A general
overview might be found in :

Flynn, Anita. Gnat Robots. AI Expert. pp34-42, December 1987.

A more scholarly paper would be:

Flynn, Tavrow, Bart, Brooks, Ehrlich, Udayakumar, and Cross. Piezoelectric
Micromotors for Microrobots. Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems,
pp44-51, v1, n1, March 1992.

As far as the pest control aspect goes, it did bring to mind another
researcher working on builing mesoscopic ants-like robots.  Johannes G.
Smits of Boston University.  He is delevloping piezoelectric materials
to actuate the legs of a robot.  He has already work out the designs of
the legs themselves and would like to see a complete system by something
like 1998?  He gave a talk at ALife III.  All I have for references are
from newspapers and the popular scientific press.

--
Karl R Altenburg				altenbur@plains.NoDak.edu
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND  58105

All things are artificial, for nature is the art of God.  SIR THOMAS BROWNE
