Wholly Echolocation, Bat-Bot! robots.net tells us researchers have developed a high resolution model of bat ears. They came up with simplified nylon ears that wriggle.
The physorg.com article, from which robots.net gathered information, tells us that this new robotic bat head boosts sonar echolocation, which, in turn, improves a robot’s capability to navigate in environments where and when there is reduced visibility that limits other modes of perception. The wriggling of the bionic ears is a technique often used by bats to modulate the characteristics of the echo. (Just what Peeping Blimp or other robots on patrol need for those low light situations, eh?)
One of the project partners of the Bat-Bot, developed by IST project CIRCE (Chiroptera Inspired Robotic Cephaloid Experiments), developed a broadband transducer that could both transmit and receive acoustical energy across the entire 20 to 200 kHz spectrum. (Common transducers usually work on just one frequency at around either 40khz or 60khz). to investigate how its shape influences the sound.
There’s the bat signal, gotta go! C U real soon, bat bot-it-teers!
