Animal I.T.
In Animal I.T. we explore the world of animal senses and animal intelligence. We may think we’re the smartest creatures on earth but animals often see and hear far more than we can. Their senses are more finely tuned and their responses much faster. Human roboticists are now turning to animal tech for inspiration in building the next generation of artificially intelligent machines.
Are all robots mindless automatons? Or are we about to enter a new era of machines that think like animals? Our technology is evolving as we learn more and more from animal inventors.
Because nature has found simple solutions to complex problems, human inventors are already finding new ways of sensing the world around them. We’re making better hearing aids thanks to a fly that has its ears on its chest, and scientists are redesigning fire detectors based on a beetle that can detect flames from 50 miles away!
Today’s robots may still be a long way from the simple elegance of natural design, but we’ve managed to build everything from a cyber-cricket that mimics an insect’s brain, to Kismet, a computer that sulks if you don’t play with it.
Maybe one day we’ll be able to build a new generation of machines that will be able to think for themselves. After all, nature is smart. Are we smart enough to listen?
