Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature (Book)
Benyus, Janine M. Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. Perennial, 2009.
In Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, Benyus explains the titular concept, biomimicry, where we develop technology that imitates the natural world. I particularly found it interesting for its powerful social message: in a world where technology is seen as pitted against nature, we could humbly look to nature to guide us and even inspire us to develop clean technology. This helped guide inspiration in my project and was what gave me the idea for the project, a robot which mimics a spider, in the first place. It's why the project is so important to me, as a future STEM major who cares a lot about environmental issues as well. The book also discusses biomimicry in a cultural context, which helps me bridge STEM and the humanities as well. For example, the book reflects on how some cultures appreciate nature's power more than most Americans, and how the industrial revolution has driven us to gain our independence. I believe that not only is it important to understand all technology in a cultural context, but that cultural movements can really drive us to create better technologies.
On the Design and Development of A Rough Terrain Robot for Rescue Missions (Conference Paper)
Suthakorn, Jackrit & Shah, Syed & Jantarajit, Suratana & Onprasert, W. & Saensupo, W. & Saeung, S. & Nakdhamabhorn, Sakol & Sa-ing, Vera & Reaungamornrat, S.. (2009). On the Design and Development of A Rough Terrain Robot for Rescue Missions. 1830 - 1835. 10.1109/ROBIO.2009.4913280.
This paper was also one of the driving reasons why I chose this project; it highlighted the need for a terrain robot such as the spider robot I am creating. It is important to me that major STEM projects I do are used to help society, in order to combat the societal idea that technology is inherently detrimental or dangerous. Small terrain robots can be used in search and rescue missions. For example, they explained how 9/11 victims died due to the delay of assistance, and one of the ways that rescue robots can change this is by getting into dangerous terrain and confirming victim locations before human aid arrives. One of my takeaways from this paper was, "to develop a rescue robot, the key features worth considering are mobility and map generation" (1830). This would later help me in my design. Also, it got me thinking about how to turn my AI A* algorithm into map generation, an application of software to societal need. To elaborate on the mobility aspect, "A toy 'Tarantula' was modified to be a rescue robot called 'The Redback.' The robot had improved mobility because of its small size and light weight." Firstly, similarly to my robot, one spider-type robot was proved useful as a rescue robot. In addition, although this change to my senior project was not intentional, the robot's new design constructed out of popsicle sticks is very lightweight, and also quite small.
Autonomous rough terrain rescue mobile robot (Conference paper)
Manish, M.J. & Natarajan, Krishna Prakash. (2016). Autonomous rough terrain rescue mobile robot. 9. 191-196.
This paper discusses another design for an autonomous robot that would also be used for search and rescue missions. It explains some of the criteria for robots that I've been given to think about, such as their speed, their ability to traverse over difficult terrain, their size, the amount of noise they make, and their destructibility. It will give me metrics to later develop a test which to subject the robot to, in order to measure its quality. Due to this paper, I realized that the best terrain robots will be semiautonomous, meaning that they will have some AI incorporated into them, which I luckily have a passion for. Due to the changes that have been made because of the shelter-in-place, these ideas may be more theoretical than practical. The paper also listed some examples of communications that I could use between the robot and computer, such as bluetooth. As an easy first step, I want to just use the joystick module (which can be read about at the next resource), so I realized I will likely not be using a wireless connection. The paper does, however, give me some ideas for how I would improve the model or next steps that I would take.
Control Servo Motors with a Joystick Module Connected to an Arduino (Article Tutorial)
A. “How to Control Servo Motors With an Arduino and Joystick : Arduino.” Maker Pro, Maker Pro, 24 Apr. 2020, maker.pro/arduino/tutorial/how-to-control-servo-motors-with-an-arduino-and-joystick.
This tutorial simply explained how to wire the joystick controller module, along with giving me a circuit diagram, and helped me realize whether or not this was what I wanted to use for my project (it is a good first start!). It also helped me understand what the output of the controller would look like, and how that would interface with the rest of my robot, such as the fact that I want to represent the walking direction as a vector. The code that they provided in the tutorial was very simple, making it a great start for my project. I was pleased to find that I would not need to use a library. Because you can connect the joystick with wires, I was hoping that I could find very long wires or string along different wires to make it almost bluetooth-like (I can control it from a distance).
How to Control Servo Motor Up To 16 with Arduino Uno R3 (YouTube Video)
Mert Arduino. How to Control Servo Motor Up To 16 with Arduino Uno R3. YouTube, 29 May 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjX4JKU_I9M.
How to Animate A Walking Spider (YouTube video)
animan1999. How to Animate A Walking Spider. YouTube, 12 August 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtHzpX0FCFY.