Page 171 - Biomimetics: Technology Imitates Nature

Harun Yahya

Joseph Ayers, Director of the Marine Science Center at Northeastern
University in Boston is leading a project to develop a robot that imitates
the lobster. As he describes it, the project’s “technical goal is to capture the
performance advantages that the animal systems hold in the target envi-
ronment.” 110
They expect to use this “robo-lobster” in finding and disarming
mines. Ayers says the robot will be ideally suited to this kind of work:
. . . the sequence of behavioral acts that a lobster performs when it searches for
food is exactly what one would want a robot to perform to find and neutralize
underwater mines. 111
Lobsters’ shape helps them resist tumbling or moving in fast-moving
water. They are able to proceed in the direction they want under the most
difficult conditions, even over very rough terrain. In the same way, the
robo-lobster will use its tail and claws for stability.
On the robot, micro-electro-mechanical sensors (MEMS) imitate the
lobster’s sensory organs. Equipped with water current sensors and anten-
nae, the robot can adapt its movements to the currents of the water

around it. A live lobster uses hairs to determine the direction of currents,

Robo-lobster

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