BBC News:小動物機(jī)器人或成發(fā)明趨勢

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US scientists have unveiled a new breed of tiny robots, which were inspired by minute creaturesuch as termites. They've been put on display at the American Association for theAdvancement of Science meeting in Chicago. And researchers say robots of the future are likelyto resemble small animals rather than the humanoid butlers seen in science fiction. From theconference our science correspondent Pallab Ghosh reports.

美國科學(xué)家最近揭曉了一種微型機(jī)器人，靈感來源于微小生物，如白蟻等。在芝加哥舉行的美國科學(xué)促進(jìn)協(xié)會對這些微型機(jī)器人進(jìn)行了會議展覽。研究人員稱，未來的機(jī)器人很可能趨向于模仿小動物，而不是科幻片里的機(jī)器人管家。我們的科學(xué)記者帕拉博·高希從會議現(xiàn)場發(fā)回了報(bào)道。

"In the 1970s, this is how we imagine robots to be in the future. 40 years on, and this is howthey've turned out, tiny robot ants, not dusting or making tea, but trying to find their wayhome. But why build robots based on ants? Their creator Professor Buffler Webb at theEdinburgh University explains. "

“在20世紀(jì)70年代，這是我們想象中的未來機(jī)器人。40年過去了，現(xiàn)在的情況是這樣的，小 型螞蟻機(jī)器人不是在打掃衛(wèi)生，也不是在為人類倒茶，而是在尋找自己回家的路。但為什么我們要以螞蟻為原型發(fā)明機(jī)器人呢?它們的創(chuàng)造者，愛丁堡大學(xué)的比夫 萊·韋伯教授為我們解答了這一問題”

"If you've ever tried to build a robot yourself, you cannot help but be amazed when you nowlook at an animal, even a very simple animal and how well it interacts with the world, how manycompetences it has, how compound it is."

“如果你發(fā)明過機(jī)器人，那么當(dāng)你看到動物尤其是非常簡單的小動物時(shí)，你會驚異于它的生存方式，它的各種能力以及它精巧的身體構(gòu)造。”

"Professor Webb spent several weeks studying a type of ant in Spain. She was amazed that itcould process complex visual information in its tiny brain. And so back at the lab, shereproduced it in robot form."

“韋伯教授花了數(shù)周時(shí)間研究西班牙的一種螞蟻。令她吃驚的是，這種螞蟻可以在它小小的頭腦中處理復(fù)雜的視覺信息。因此，回到實(shí)驗(yàn)室，她就以螞蟻為原型發(fā)明了機(jī)器人。”

"Ants are fantastic navigators. They remember what they see in the way that we mightrecognize what we see when we learn our way around a new city. But they do all of it with abrain that's smaller that the head of a pin and with very poor vision. And so we really areinterested to try and understand and replicate their capabilities."

“螞蟻是認(rèn)路高手，和我們認(rèn)路的方式幾乎一致，但是它們的大腦只有針鼻大小，而且視力也不好。所以，我們對此很感興趣，想試著理解和復(fù)制它們的能力。”

Meanwhile, in Chicago, Professor Malcom Makaiva became enamored with another little creature.

與此同時(shí)，在芝加哥，馬爾科姆·馬凱瓦教授對另一種小生物產(chǎn)生了興趣。

"The inspiration is a group of fish that live in the rivers of the Amazon. And those rivers arevery very murky. So as a result they've had to evolve a different way to sense what they doas they generate a weak electric field around their body and they are able to navigate andthey also communicate and hunt using that field."

“我的靈感來源于亞馬遜的一種魚群，它們生存的河水非常陰暗，為了適應(yīng)環(huán)境，在身體周圍產(chǎn)生微弱的電場，從而能夠感應(yīng)周圍環(huán)境，認(rèn)清方向，相互交流，以及進(jìn)行覓食。”

"So he took some back to his lab at Northwestern University in Chicago and he showed me howtheir remarkable natural electric fields work. "

“因此，他把一些魚帶回他在芝加哥西北大學(xué)的實(shí)驗(yàn)室，并且向我展示了不同尋常的天然電場的工作原理。

"If we dip the wires from a speaker into the tank, that electric field gets translated into sound."

“如果我們把音箱中的電線沉入魚缸，那么電場將被轉(zhuǎn)化為聲音。”

"The fish uses these fields rather like radar to sense their surroundings. Professor Macaiva hasmade some robot fish that mimic the real ones. "

“魚兒就是用這些雷達(dá)一樣的電場感應(yīng)周圍環(huán)境的。馬凱瓦教授根據(jù)這個(gè)原理發(fā)明了一些機(jī)器魚。”