homeland security tagged posts

The SAW robot. Credit: Image courtesy of American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Applications in medicine, homeland security, search and rescue. The first single actuator wave-like robot (SAW) has been developed by engineers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). The 3D-printed robot can move forward or backward in a wave-like motion, moving much like a worm would in a perpendicular wave.

SAW can climb over obstacles or crawl through unstable terrain like sand, grass and gravel, reaching a top speed of 22.5 inches/s, 5X faster than similar robots. Its minimalistic mechanical design produces an advancing sine wave with a large amplitude, using only a single motor with no internal straight spine...

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are using a locust’s sense of smell to develop new biorobotic sensing devices.

Washington Uni engineers in St. Louis are looking to capitalize on the sense of smell in locusts to create new biorobotic sensing systems that could be used in homeland security applications. A/Prof B. Raman et al are using the sensitive locust olfactory system to develop a bio-hybrid nose. Biological sensing systems are far more complex than their engineered counterparts, including the chemical sensing system responsible for our sense of smell. Although the sense of smell is a primitive sense, it is conserved across many vertebrate and invertebrate species.

For several years and with prior funding from ONR, Raman has been studying how sensory signals are receive...