TECHNOLOGY
What is a robot? Use our resources to find out.
Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers’ Toolkit.
Discussion Ideas
- OceanOne, a “robot mermaid,” successfully navigated a shipwreck off the coast of France. Why not send down human divers?
- Safety. “Difficulties with air supply and the danger of decompression sickness—the bends—limit divers’ abilities to probe ancient wrecks and other deep-sea features.”
- According to Stanford, OceanOne is a successful marriage of robotics, artificial intelligence and haptic feedback systems. What is robotics?
- Robotics is a branch of electronics that deals with the study, construction, operation, and use of robots.
- Robots are machines that can perform tasks. Humanoid robots like OceanOne have human characteristics or form: OceanOne is roughly human-sized (about five feet); its front-facing cameras are housed in a rounded casing that looks like eyes in a face; its remarkable hands have sensors and articulated joints.
- Robotics is a branch of electronics that deals with the study, construction, operation, and use of robots.
- What is artificial intelligence?
- Artificial intelligence, or AI, describes the capacity of a computer or robot to perform operations analogous to learning and decision-making in humans.
- In OceanOne, for instance, can gauge ocean currents and turbulence, automatically adjusting thrusters and motion sensors to stay steady and avoid collisions.
- Artificial intelligence, or AI, describes the capacity of a computer or robot to perform operations analogous to learning and decision-making in humans.
- What is haptic feedback?
- Haptics is the study or use of tactile sensations and the sense of touch as a method of interacting with computers and electronic devices. Haptic feedback is a familiar feature on mobile devices: vibrations often denote that a touchscreen button has been pressed.
- In OceanOne, “[e]ach fully articulated wrist is fitted with force sensors that relay haptic feedback to the pilot’s controls, so the human can feel whether the robot is grasping something firm and heavy, or light and delicate … The ‘bot’s brain also reads the data and makes sure that its hands keep a firm grip on objects, but that they don’t damage things by squeezing too tightly. In addition to exploring shipwrecks, this makes it adept at manipulating delicate coral reef research and precisely placing underwater sensors.”
- Haptics is the study or use of tactile sensations and the sense of touch as a method of interacting with computers and electronic devices. Haptic feedback is a familiar feature on mobile devices: vibrations often denote that a touchscreen button has been pressed.
- How are computer scientists hoping to improve OceanOne’s haptics in the future?
- Eventually, each of OceanOne’s fingers will be equipped with haptic sensors to make studying delicate shipwrecks, artifacts, or coral reefs even more efficient.
- How was OceanOne piloted?
- The robot mermaid was piloted using joysticks on a boat about 100 meters (328 feet) above the shipwreck.
TEACHERS’ TOOLKIT
Guardian: Humanoid diving robot hunts for sunken treasure in French shipwreck
Nat Geo: What is a robot?
One thought on “Robot Mermaid Dives Deep”