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Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Robotic Whiskers Inspired by Rats Can "See" in 3-D


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Rat whiskers can detect an object's size, shape, texture, and orientation with just a few sweeps. Now researchers have harnessed this sensory ability to design robotic whiskers (inset) that could one day help robots inspect oil pipelines and explore remote locations from the deep sea to outer space.

Rat photograph courtesy A.S. Kaloti and M.J. Hartmann, Northwestern University; robotic whiskers image courtesy J.H. Solomon and M.J. Hartmann, Northwestern University