Biomimetic Robots

October 11, 2004 D. H. McKee

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From the ominous Klaatu of The Day the Earth Stood Still to the Terminator, we’ve seen robots typically portrayed on screen as stiff, humanoid machines. But it’s not just Hollywood that has locked robots to the human form.
“A lot of conventional thinking pervades the field of robotics,” says Morley Stone, a program manager in the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s defense sciences office. “They still look very much like they are depicted in grainy black-and-white films. You see this humanoid robot that doesn’t walk very well. We still haven’t improved upon that all that much.”
Forget the anthropomorphs. Today, researchers are looking in the cupboards of their local diners and under rocks for biological inspiration to create a new generation of flying, crawling, and swimming automatons known as biomimetic robots. Intrigued by how other species have adapted to a whole world of environmental niches, researchers are working to understand and reverse-engineer the adaptive traits of creatures, including those–like the seemingly indestructible cockroach–we might much rather step on than study.
Computer Magazine – Biomimetic Robots

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About This Site

As a guy who occasionally curates art shows and wrangles artists together, I often have to edit and post artist bios, profile pictures, and artwork images. This can be a problem, since many artists and writers aren’t used to selling themselves. Artists rarely know how to present their art for display in a brochure, and writers aren’t used to writing about themselves.

Writers often treat the bio like it’s an interview or something. Maybe like they’re having a conversation with you, the reader. While it may work sometimes, the most common way to write a bio is to write in the 3rd person.

I’m like those writers, and I’m talking to you directly, unlike the common way to do a bio. You should see my About page. It makes sense to me, since this is a bit which describes my blog’s website. When I get famous enough that I don’t have time to talk to you, I’ll have an intern write everything in 3rd person. Until then, you get to talk to me.

Like blogs of old, this one is a personal document of the comings and goings of me. Articles I’ve written, links I’ve posted, videos I liked, etc. Here, a first-person perspective is the way to go, at least for now. So, this is my site. I’m D. H. McKee, a sometimes artist, sometimes writer. Mostly just a guy on the internet.