and that puts us in the unique position of being
able to dictate what the robot receives as visual
input.”
But the professor recently jumped ship to join
the University of Arizona’s ( www.arizona.edu)
College of Engineering, where he will head up the
Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems
Research Laboratory and adapt Cyclops for a
completely different mission: autonomous
planetary exploration. Fink says it’s only a short
leap, both in terms of hardware and software. All
that’s needed is some image-processing system
enhancements and a bit of reengineering to make
the platform self-maneuvering. Working with other
scientists and engineers in UA’s Lunar and
Planetary Lab, he hopes to have it ready for desert
testing in due course. ◆
Autonomous underwater explorers (AUEs) will
provide new information about the oceans.
Courtesy of SIO.
AUEs to Explore Ocean Processes
As reported in these pages from time to time,
the Earth’s oceans are already swarming with
autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). It seems
that — although most of them are pretty useful for
detailing large-scale ocean processes — a need has
been identified to poke around in relatively minute
processes. The National Science Foundation has
therefore awarded nearly $1 million to the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography ( sio.ucsd.edu), in La
Jolla, CA, to develop a new breed of vehicle
dubbed autonomous underwater explorers (AUEs).
According to the institution, “By defining
localized currents, temperature, salinity, pressure,
and biological properties, AUEs will offer new and
valuable information about a range of ocean
10 SERVO 01.2010
phenomena.” In practical terms, they will “aid in
obtaining information needed for developing
marine protected areas, determining critical
nursery habitats for fish and other animals,
tracking harmful algae blooms, and monitoring oil
spills.”
The implementation will take the form of
systems in which several soccer-ball-sized main
units are deployed, each watching over tens or
even hundreds of pint-sized units that move in
swarms. (Another $1.5 million has been allocated
for developing systems to control their movement.)
This is great news for abalone and plankton, but
the AUEs look a bit like tasty little jellyfish, so let’s
hope larger seagoing creatures can tell the
difference. ◆
Saving Bessie’s
Butt
The results are in,
and Dr. Sarah Baillie, of
the Royal Veterinary
College, University of
London (www.rvc
. ac.uk), has been
awarded the (London)
Times Higher
Education’s Most
Innovative Teacher of
the Year 2009 for her
work with haptic
simulators. Specifically
cited is her “haptic cow,” described as a robotic
device used to train students to conduct internal
examinations of bovine reproductive tracts.
Apparently, Dr. Baillie observed that it’s
difficult to use live animals in teaching because,
when a student’s arm is inserted into a real cow’s
rectum, you can’t really see what’s going on
inside. Her solution is a fiberglass model that
contains simulated organs and allows the
examination process to be displayed on a
computer monitor. Reportedly, the fake cow even
“moos” if the student applies excessive force on its
private parts.
The doc has also invented a haptic horse for
training students in the treatment of equine colic
and other abdominal complaints. It was further
noted that the concept promotes animal welfare
by ensuring that university teaching herds “are not
used too heavily or manhandled by novices.” ◆
The award-winning haptic cow.
Courtesy of Royal Veterinary College.
