They're Robots? Those beasts!

They're Robots? Those beasts! by Scott Kirsner (NYTimes 16 Sept 2004)

This article is about researchers and scientists that look at animals--lobsters, snakes, dogs--and try to design robots that look and act the same.

A few quotes from this article struck me how great a creator God we have and how confusing a world it must be when it appears that "chance" is a better designer than humans. (Then again, evolution took millions of years, so we just need a few more million to catch up.)

"What has been a surprise to me is how hard it has been to make progress," said Shankar Sastry, a professor at the University of California who has been helping to design robotic flies, fish and the wall-climbing gecko.

Researchers say that an important advance will be artificial muscle, a synthetic substance that can contract and relax when electricity is applied, just like organic muscle. "Muscles are spectacular springs, shock absorbers, struts, brakes, and motors, all rolled up into a thin little tissue," Dr. Full said.

Toward the end are several more quotes that all amount to, "We don't understand."