{"id":1208,"date":"2016-06-09T20:59:25","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T20:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/?p=1208"},"modified":"2016-06-29T16:08:37","modified_gmt":"2016-06-29T16:08:37","slug":"using-bat-anatomy-improve-robot-navigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/2016\/06\/09\/using-bat-anatomy-improve-robot-navigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Using bat anatomy to improve robot navigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Steve Frandzel<\/em><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/files\/2016\/06\/project-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1209\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/files\/2016\/06\/project-4-300x227.jpg\" alt=\"Using bat anatomy to improve robot navigation\" width=\"300\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/1017\/files\/2016\/06\/project-4-300x227.jpg 300w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/1017\/files\/2016\/06\/project-4-1024x776.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Seeking a way to improve the navigational ability of robots, <strong>Colin Comard<\/strong> and his Expo team turned to the animal world \u2014 specifically the bat\u2019s remarkable ability to maneuver quickly and precisely using sonar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBats have specialized anatomy and biology that allow them to navigate with echolocation,\u201d said Comard, who is getting a degree in electrical and computer engineering. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to use that evolutionary advantage for our own robots to help them navigate better.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>A sonar system emits short pulses of sound, which bounce off objects in their path and return an \u201cecho\u201d back to the sonar\u2019s receiver. By measuring the time it takes for the reflected pulses to make the round trip (and accounting for the medium they\u2019re traveling through), the system calculates the distance from objects. Bats take things a step further: they can translate the spread of angles at which echoes hit their ears into an exceptionally accurate map of their surroundings.<\/p>\n<p>The team took plastic bat ears manufactured by a 3-D printer and hooked them to a sonar system that they designed and built. During a proof-of-concept experiment, they fired sonar pulses toward objects positioned at premeasured distances and angles, then compared the system\u2019s distance and position computations with the actual coordinates.<\/p>\n<p>The system worked as designed, but because the model bat ears are rigid, not flexible like those of a real bat, the signals got muddled a bit. \u201cOur job was to design the system itself,\u201d said Comard, adding that animal anatomy could form the basis of new options for robotic navigational systems. He envisions a day when such systems are integrated into self-driving cars. \u201cSonar could be used to sense incoming threats and trigger emergency systems, which might save lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Other team members<br \/>\n<strong>Seydou Yaogo<\/strong>, Electrical &amp; Computer Engineering<br \/>\n<strong>Ilya Zhimanov<\/strong>, Electrical &amp; Computer Engineering<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Steve Frandzel Seeking a way to improve the navigational ability of robots, Colin Comard and his Expo team turned to the animal world \u2014 specifically the bat\u2019s remarkable ability to maneuver quickly and precisely using sonar. \u201cBats have specialized anatomy and biology that allow them to navigate with echolocation,\u201d said Comard, who is getting&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/2016\/06\/09\/using-bat-anatomy-improve-robot-navigation\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[523,101480],"tags":[216285,1264,155],"class_list":["post-1208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","category-students-3","tag-2016-undergraduate-expo","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-oregon-state-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1208"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1226,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions\/1226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}