Scientists Tempt Their Fate With Robo-Squirrel

[donutsweeper]

AMHERST, Massachusetts (AP)  --  One gray squirrel, its bushy tail twitching, barked a warning as another scrounged for food nearby.

It was an ordinary spring day at Hampshire College, except that the rodent issuing the warning was powered by amps, not acorns.

Dubbed "Rocky" after the cartoon character, the robo-squirrel is working its way into Hampshire's live-squirrel clique, controlled by researchers several yards away with a laptop computer and binoculars.

Sarah Partan, an assistant professor in animal behavior at Hampshire, hopes that by capturing a close-up view of squirrels in nature, Rocky will help her team decode squirrels' communication techniques, social cues and survival instincts.

Comments

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

CREEPY! Heh.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why they just can't mount cameras and whatnot and learn by watching actual squirrels interacting.

Rocky freaks me out just a tad. He's scary looking

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Oh that's brilliant! Weird but brilliant!

Do you think we could use it to keep squirrels off bird feeders? Maybe it could be programmed to wallop them if they came too near...

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I think it's impossible to keep them off bird feeders, but robo-squirrel might be able to be re-programed to stand guard against his brethren instead of interacting with them. Hmmm... now there's an idea. Reprogram the little robot, sic him on Murray and....

[phoenix64.livejournal.com]

This is indeed begging for intervention by Murray.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Would Murray reprogram it or simply sabotage it?

[the-dark-side.livejournal.com]

Dude, as if real squirrels weren't creepy enough.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Seriously! There is just something about this squirrel's eyes... creepy

[the-dark-side.livejournal.com]

It's a bad B sci-fi movie just waiting to happen...

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

They will have their revenge!

[the-dark-side.livejournal.com]

I really have the urge to write that, now. Dammit.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

do it. you know you want to....

[the-dark-side.livejournal.com]

Damn robot squirrel.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

now, now, don't blame poor Rocky...

[the-dark-side.livejournal.com]

I'll just blame my muse, then.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Those pesky muses. Annoying little buggers

[the-dark-side.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

The BBC has 'log cams' and you guys get roboSquirrel?

GAH I really must cap SuperSquirrel soon!

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

errr.... log cams? sounds fascinating...

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7310000/newsid_7312800/7312859.stm?bw=bb&
Elephant and log cam pictures/video

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

awww, the monkeys tapping on the camera is cute! kind of like "hey, is this thing on?"

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

The tiger footage they filmed with the 'log cams'- that rather bizarrely (I thought) trundled through the undergrowth on wheels instead of caterpillar tracks - is awesome

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

every be watching one of those 'hidden cameras in the wild' sort of things and think, those animals are onto us....

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

I think those monkeys definitely were at any rate *nods*

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

They're plotting something. I can tell