Servo - September 2007

Robytes

(pilot and sensor operator). But at least they sit at a remotely located ground control station.

“Tuabot” Aids Breeding Research

Eurobot Passes Tests

A robotic version of this tuatara will mimic the real thing to help researchers. Photo courtesy of Ohio University Research ( www.research.ohiou.edu).

Eurobot is lowered into the Neutral Buoyancy Facility for operational concept testing. Photo courtesy of ESA.

Under development since 2003 by the European Space Agency (ESA, www.esa.int), the multijointed (seven joints plus one end effector and camera per arm), three-armed Eurobot has undergone operational testing in the Neutral Buoyancy Facility of the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne.

In the trials, the wet model — which is similar in size and configuration to the planned space flight model — was checked for its ability to move and manipulate objects, provide coordinated multi-arm movement, and recognize obscured targets. By all accounts, the tests went very well.

According to Philippe Schoonejans, the Eurobot project manager, “Not only has it been demonstrated that Eurobot can walk around an orbital station autonomously and safely, using no more than the existing EVA handrails, it is also becoming clear that Eurobot can really help the astronauts. And in the next phase, we also plan to demonstrate its use on a planetary surface ...”

Meanwhile, down in laid-back New Zealand’s Stephens Island, a robotic lizard is helping to preserve the tuatara species by pretending to be an available bachelor. The creatures have been around for 200 million years, so it would seem that they have this breeding thing under control. Nevertheless, Victoria University ( www.vuw.ac.nz) postdoctoral student Jennifer Moore (actually a Michigan native) wants to

understand how males establish dominance and attract females. Enter “Robo-Ollie,” made from a cast of a recently departed real lizard known as Oliver.

The rubber-skinned creature runs off a nickel-cadmium battery and tries to imitate the aggressive behavior typical of male tuataras. Ollie can’t actually walk around, but he can move his head. He didn’t do all that well in initial trials, as he just bobbed his head, which turned out to be a female signal. He was then reprogrammed to open his mouth and gape, which apparently irritates other males to no end. Among real tuatura, this degenerates into puffing (which Ollie hasn’t learned yet) and all-out warfare in which the reptiles often lose their tails.

About 75 percent of the males turn out to be lonely losers, and the other 25 percent get to produce all of the young. As one might expect, the winners tend to be the largest individuals, some of which can be 90 years old. Moore suspects that smell could play a role in the mating process, so research continues. SV