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3344 Image credit: rtbilder / Shutterstock.com
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3344 By Conn Hastings, science writer
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3344 Honeybees use a sophisticated dance 3344 to tell their sisters about 3344 the location of nearby flowers. 3344 This phenomenon forms the inspiration 3344 for a form of robot-robot 3344 communication that does not rely 3344 on digital networks. A recent 3344 study presents a simple technique 3344 whereby robots view and interpret 3344 each other’s movements or a 3344 gesture from a human to 3344 communicate a geographical location. This 3344 approach could prove invaluable when 3344 network coverage is unreliable or 3344 absent, such as in disaster 3344 zones.
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3344 Where are those flowers and 3344 how far away are they? 3344 This is the crux of 3344 the ‘waggle dance’ performed by 3344 honeybees to alert others to 3344 the location of nectar-rich flowers. 3344 A new study in 3344 Frontiers in Robotics and AI 3344 has taken inspiration from 3344 this technique to devise a 3344 way for robots to communicate. 3344 The first robot traces a 3344 shape on the floor, and 3344 the shape’s orientation and the 3344 time it takes to trace 3344 it tell the second robot 3344 the required direction and distance 3344 of travel. The technique could 3344 prove invaluable in situations where 3344 robot labor is required but 3344 network communications are unreliable, such 3344 as in a disaster zone 3344 or in space.
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3344 Honeybees excel at non-verbal communication
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3344 If you have ever found 3344 yourself in a noisy environment, 3344 such as a factory floor, 3344 you may have noticed that 3344 humans are adept at communicating 3344 using gestures. Well, we aren’t 3344 the only ones. In fact, 3344 honeybees take non-verbal communication to 3344 a whole new level.
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3344 By wiggling their backside while 3344 parading through the hive, they 3344 can let other honeybees know 3344 about the location of food. 3344 The direction of this ‘waggle 3344 dance’ lets other bees know 3344 the direction of the food 3344 with respect to the hive 3344 and the sun, and the 3344 duration of the dance lets 3344 them know how far away 3344 it is. It is a 3344 simple but effective way to 3344 convey complex geographical coordinates. 3344
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3344 Applying the dance to robots
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3344 This ingenious method of communication 3344 inspired the researchers behind this 3344 latest study to apply it 3344 to the world of robotics. 3344 Robot cooperation allows multiple robots 3344 to coordinate and complete complex 3344 tasks. Typically, robots communicate using 3344 digital networks, but what happens 3344 when these are unreliable, such 3344 as during an emergency or 3344 in remote locations? Moreover, how 3344 can humans communicate with robots 3344 in such a scenario?
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3344 To address this, the researchers 3344 designed a visual communication system 3344 for robots with on-board cameras, 3344 using algorithms that allow the 3344 robots to interpret what they 3344 see. They tested the system 3344 using a simple task, where 3344 a package in a warehouse 3344 needs to be moved. The 3344 system allows a human to 3344 communicate with a ‘messenger robot’, 3344 which supervises and instructs a 3344 ‘handling robot’ that performs the 3344 task.
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3344 Robot dancing in practice
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3344 In this situation, the human 3344 can communicate with the messenger 3344 robot using gestures, such as 3344 a raised hand with a 3344 closed fist. The robot can 3344 recognize the gesture using its 3344 on-board camera and skeletal tracking 3344 algorithms. Once the human has 3344 shown the messenger robot where 3344 the package is, it conveys 3344 this information to the handling 3344 robot.
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3344 This involves positioning itself in 3344 front of the handling robot 3344 and tracing a specific shape 3344 on the ground. The orientation 3344 of the shape indicates the 3344 required direction of travel, while 3344 the length of time it 3344 takes to trace it indicates 3344 the distance. This robot dance 3344 would make a worker bee 3344 proud, but did it work?
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3344 The researchers put it to 3344 the test using a computer 3344 simulation, and with real robots 3344 and human volunteers. The robots 3344 interpreted the gestures correctly 90% 3344 and 93.3% of the time, 3344 respectively, highlighting the potential of 3344 the technique. 3344
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3344 “This technique could be useful 3344 in places where communication network 3344 coverage is insufficient and intermittent, 3344 such as robot search-and-rescue operations 3344 in disaster zones or in 3344 robots that undertake space walks,” 3344 said Prof Abhra Roy Chowdhury 3344 of the Indian Institute of 3344 Science, senior author on the 3344 study. “This method depends on 3344 robot vision through a simple 3344 camera, and therefore it is 3344 compatible with robots of various 3344 sizes and configurations and is 3344 scalable,” added Kaustubh Joshi of 3344 the University of Maryland, first 3344 author on the study.
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3344 Video credit: K Joshi and 3344 AR Chowdury
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3344 This article was originally published 3344 on the 3344 Frontiers blog 3344 .
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3344 tags: 3344 bio-inspired 3344 , 3344 c-Research-Innovation
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