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Foundations of Robotics
Seminar, April 22, 2008
Time
and Place | Seminar Abstract
Curious Creatures: Biomimetic Novelties for Robot Development Involving Arthropods
John E. Rawlins, Ph.D.
Section of Invertebrate Zoology
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
NSH 1305
Talk 4:30 pm
Arthropods have been frequently emulated by robot developers, emphasizing locomotory features such as jointed appendages and six-legged gaits. But the vast diversity of arthropod structures and functions have not yet been explored or exploited in robotics, including potential bioemulations for sensing, control, and traction, in addition to novel mechanisms for locomotion. This talk explores one suite of adaptations involving larval Lepidoptera (caterpillars) as an example of the close connection between careful biological observations and novel robot development using arthropods.
Rawlins grew up on a sheep ranch in eastern Oregon, received a Bachelor of Science degree from Oregon State University in vertebrate zoology and a doctorate from Cornell University in systematic entomology, worked as an Assistant Professor of Zoology at University of Texas, Austin, and for the last 20 years as been at Carnegie Museum of Natural History as the curator in charge of the Section of Invertebrate Zoology. Research interests emphasize natural history and phylogeny of Lepidoptera with special emphasis on the immature stages of moths, biotic inventory involving insects, and use of insects as indicator systems for environmental change, conservation, and resource management. He is interested in topics integrating technology with insects and their kin (e.g., using arthropod structure and function as biomodels in robotics). Current projects include NSF-sponsored biotic inventory of invertebrates and plants on Hispaniola, NSF-sponsored inventory of butterflies in Ghana, molecular and morphological studies on phylogeny of world cutworm moths and their relatives, federally funded State Wildlife Project for Invertebrate Species of Special Concern in Pennsylvania, and collaborative work on Neotropical ghost moths and Pennsylvania fireflies.
The Robotics Institute is part of the School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University.