School work
Boffins at car outfit Nissan have been building robots
which mimic the behaviour of fish.
After all when fish swim in schools you never see one of
them have a crash, or two of them stepping aside to exchange insurance
details. The tiny robots, called Eporo, can move in a fleet
without bumping into others. If
installed in cars as a guidance system, Nissan thinks that they could
avoid
crashes. (Comes in handy for carpet bombing, too. sub.ed.)
Nissan has a thing about looking to the animal kingdom
for designs.Last year it made a robot modeled on the behaviour of
bumblebees. The bee was able to avoid crashes but since it does
not fly in swarms that much it could not
mimic rush hour or highway traffic.
The new three-wheeled robot, which will be shown off at
Japanese design fair Ceatec on 6 October.
It can travel in a group of seven and uses a laser range-finder to
measure the distance between obstacle.The data is constantly shared between peers via radio,
allowing the group to travel as a "shoal" without bumping into each
other.