Bugs in the Matrix

8 responses to “Bugs in the Matrix”

1. 

   jurvetson

   Feb 29, 2012 at 4:25 pm

   I recall a recurring theme here, with the leggy bugs… this one from TED 2005:

   

   Each leg is bristling with hinge spines, forming a distributed foot. And it lets the cockroach scurry with remarkable speed over hidden obstacles. Intelligent feedback is distributed out through the peripheral nervous system.

   Close up of the rig:
   

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2. 

   Jeffrey Wallace

   Feb 29, 2012 at 5:53 pm

   Yeah PETA would get themselves in a tizzy for something like this, but this sort of research is what will allow people with missing limbs to control there robotic prosthetic arm or leg with there own brain power and not just physical switches. I have a hard time feeling sorry for a critter that would be happy to lay its eggs inside of you….just sayin.

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3. 

   PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

   Feb 29, 2012 at 11:39 pm

   Interesting. Remind me of a cool experiment they did with the kids at TEDx Youth last year.

   Just came across a cool photo of you with Peter.

   

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4. 

   Jim Rees

   Feb 29, 2012 at 11:44 pm

   Don’t mean to spam your photostream, but here’s some video I shot of a dancing cockroach leg:
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/83025347@N00/5797580484/

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5. 

   Chucil

   Mar 1, 2012 at 2:45 am

   Thanks for sharing. You draw a great crowd around you, Peter Norvig, Carl Page.
   From the Backyard Brains website, they offer gadgets for school kids. They are an interesting team. Hope they offer something based on butterfly, grasshopper, etc., other than the cockroach to attract school girls’ interests in neuroscience.
   http://www.backyardbrains.com/home.aspx

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6. 

   seatonsnet

   Mar 1, 2012 at 5:22 pm

   As I rubbed the pinned cockroach leg hairs, the neuron spikes were visible on the iPad.

   Steve, that has got to be one the most sinister sentences that I have ever read. Ezra Pound would have loved it!

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7. 

   solerena

   Mar 1, 2012 at 5:34 pm

   Very cool and great portrait with Peter – he always hits the target in everything he does.

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8. 

   jurvetson

   Mar 12, 2012 at 11:49 pm

   P.S. His TED Ed talk just went online today.

   Reply