Still thinking about the concept of studying ant communication by getting down to ant level. Make a tiny robot (we don't know how to make walking robots that small, so wheels it is) the robot would have a camera, little pads to collect pheromones (which could be dropped off to be analyzed) antennae IR sensors and maybe a way to stridulate?
Then one could really find out what's going on in there.
Worst case you have made an immersive ant VR experience!
@futurebird at that scale, MEMS actuators might become a viable solution for movement, with an entire motion assembly built as a single silicon flexure mechanism
power delivery at ant scale might be a problem, as inductive power transfer is highly dependent on the loop area of the receiving antenna. the power delivery might need to be available everywhere the robot needs to go, maybe by suffusing the entire space with an alternating magnetic field thats tuned to go mostly unnoticed by the ants?
All we’d need do is manufacture a single human-sized robot avatar with human hands that could be controlled by ants (individually or as a colony) hand over the controls and from there I give human dominance of the planet (tenuous as it is) a few months tops. The girls will quickly see the benefits of the humech-suits… endeavor to procure, manufacture and power more of them, equip their whole army and take over. And?
When I was still into building quadcopters, I was able to get my quad working with VR goggles.
The experience of flying a drone in VR was the most thrilling, intense experience.
To crash was to really crash. I was flying through the Bronx, around the courthouse past the trees! My "VR Goggles" were just a cell phone in a cardboard holder.
The only downside is my neighbors think I'm strange because of all those times I stood in the park with a phone taped to my face ducking and wincing.
I'm kind of shocked VR quad flying hasn't caught on more. I guess the constant risk of a robot that took you months to build getting destroyed for one mistake (or a robot you spent 100s of dollars on) takes the fun out of it?
Maybe quadcopters need airbags? Crashing is such a drag no one wants to fly as a hobbyist. The flying devices that use balloons offer some promise IMO. But they are so slow...
Flying as fast as those racers isn't as much fun as just slowly swooping around your own neighborhood seeing everything from a whole new vantage point. I don't think I have the reaction skills to fly that fast. But, I'm glad there is a sport since maybe it will help drive the cost of quads down, and help keep the tech improving on the consumer side...
Sadly all the attention goes to their other more sinister applications.
@futurebird@jt_rebelo there also is the issue of suddenly having a drone hovering in front of your living room window, camera trained at you.
Yes, that happened to us. Thankfully I had a nerf blaster at hand, that drone disappeared VERY quickly and never came back.
(And yes, Stunts like that are quite illegal over here. Least of that is the privacy issue, you’re also forbidden from flying where people walk, bike or drive. Or in the vicinity of airports. And even then you’ll need a permit for anything over a certain weight or capability)
@futurebird things that are created for war (drones were, AFAIK, developed and used as targets for artillery practice around WWII, although some sources place the first drones in 1849 Austrian attack on Venice with explosive baloons, or baloon, since only one reached the target) can later be used by civilians, but retain their warring origin and usage visible and current for very long (for example, the Internet as "nuclear resistant communication" to "everyone uses the Internet" to "cyberwarfare").
@futurebird Apparently the money issue doesn’t detract the model plane enthusiasts, if the sudden unscheduled disassembly videos on YouTube are anything to go by.
@futurebird Purpose built FPV (first person view) quadcopters and goggles to go with them are very much a thing, though more of a niche hobby than the camera drones from DJI the like. They are built tough with the expectation of crashing regularly, so significant damage is fairly rare. The very smallest ones (like mine here) are so light weight that even a high speed crash involves a small amount of kinetic energy, so they can be crashed (almost) with impunity.
@futurebird Racing drones are an extension of the same hobby but more common are freestyle drones, which exist purely for the joy of (acrobatic) flight as experienced through the view from the on-board camera, transmitted live into your goggles. I'm very much a beginner, but still have fun flying loops, rolls, and zipping through small gaps.
I had to buy my radio transmitter, FPV goggles, batteries and chargers separately, but kits that bundle everything you need are also available (mostly aimed at beginners).
The more serious FPV hobbyists will still tend to put their own quad together from off the shelf parts, e.g. buying a frame, motors, props, camera system, motor controller, flight computer, etc. then soldering and screwing it all together.
Most of the software/firmware used are open source community projects too, and endlessly tweakable.
@futurebird I used to fly FPV way back in 2012. But that was before the FAA really got involved. Now the rules require that either you or an observer need to maintain unaided visual contact with the drone at all times which means you can’t really fly FPV solo legally anymore.
@futurebird So, basically, what's needed is a sort of crash cage which is both light enough that you can fly and sturdy enough that over 90% of crashes aren't fatal to the drone.
Battery power isn't a big problem in either case if it's a controlled environment where inductive charging pads can be placed in a few locations.
(although some ants are attracted to some electrical fields so its complex. There is just so much we don't know. It seems like the obvious way to rectify this is to go and visit the ant "in person" or "in ant")
These are the kinds of applications where I think VR could shine and really be useful.
It might be easier to start by making a mouse-sized robot to study mice or rats first. The challenges of being accepted would be different for mammals.
Ants won't care much about what the robot looks like, they will be focused on how it touches them and how it smells.
@futurebird A few years ago I read of a robot that was just rat-like enough to do dominance behaviours. The live rats became less healthy and less likely to breed.
I've built a variation on that kind of robot. They can be maneuvered, but not precisely controlled because they use vibrations not articulation for the legs.
I'm thinking the bottleneck might be the antennae. They need to have fine motor controls, probably using simulated tendons... could get bulky. hmmm
@futurebird Not sure if that was humor, but there are prototype nanobots far below the size you would need. Practical micro or insect scale bots have made a lot of progress over the past few years, by experimentalist at the corporate, academic, and hobbyists.
What do you think is the best one in terms of maneuverability? I haven't seen anything get hexapod leg articulation correct. Many just vibrate, or they walk like millipedes.
@futurebird Much depends on the type of data to be acquired. A long term study of insects within a controlled environment might be better served with embedded sensors at key locations instead of an intrusive mobile device that probably would interrupt natural behavior.