【英语时差8,16】飞行蝗虫的X翼战斗机和运动检测神经元

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Don: Hey Yaël, what do locusts², neurons, robots and the movie Star Wars have in common? Yaël: You got me, Don. D: The answer is: Doctor Claire Rind, a [dict]biologist[/dict] and robotics expert at the University of Newcastle, England. Dr. Rind wanted to design a collision-avoidance system for cars. So she decided³ to investigate the collision-avoidance system of locusts. Y: Why locusts? D: Locusts have fairly simple eyes and brains but still manage to fly in [dict]dense[/dict] swarms⁴ of many millions without bumping into each other. She hoped that by understanding how locusts managed this feat⁵, she could design a robotic system based on their neural⁶ [dict]machinery[/dict]. Now here is where it gets a little wacky--she made locusts watch Star Wars while monitoring the reactions of their visual systems. Dr. Rind discovered that locusts have special neurons that respond specifically to looming⁷ objects--or objects moving straight toward the locust¹, like on-screen spaceships. These movement-detector neurons [dict]distinguish[/dict] between approaching and receding⁸ objects by the way the edges of the object's image seem to grow or [dict]shrink[/dict] in their field of vision. Y: Neat! D: Then Rind and her [dict]colleague[/dict]s translated the locust's [dict]neural [/dict]processing to a small robot with cameras for eyes and had it [dict]zoom [/dict]through an obstacle course. The robot was able to avoid collisions 91% of the time! Now a team of neurobiologists, engineers, and designers is working on an automatic collision avoidance system for cars. The so-called "Locust Project" uses the knowledge gained from Star Wars-watching locusts. One day your car may be able to avoid collisions with the speed and accuracy of flying locusts! Y: Now that's science in action!