Thames & Kosmos DLX, Experiment Manual, Page: 38 / 132

WHAT’S
HAPPENING
The bat moves
differently from your
other mobile robots —
not on wheels, but on
legs. You have probably
already noticed that two legs don’t usually offer
a very reliable way to move. That’s why robot
engineers tend to rely on more than two legs.
Six-legged constructions are an ideal foundation
for legged robots that can move securely and
stably, even across uneven terrain.
Bat race
YOU WILL NEED
› The assembled bat
› IR remote control
› 5 AA batteries or 5 AA rechargeable batteries
› Masking tape
› Measuring tape
› 1 teammate
› Stop watch, note pad, and pen
HERE’S HOW
1. Use the masking tape to mark a starting line.
2. Take the measuring tape and place a second piece of
masking tape a meter away, for example, and mark
that one as your finish line.
3. Warm up by familiarizing yourself with the controls
and movements of your bat.
4. Now get your bat into the race: Set it on the starting
line facing the finish line.
5. Ideally, have a teammate give the starting instructions
(for example: “On your marks, get set, go!”) and
measure the time with the stop watch.
6. Write down the time and let the next player take a turn.
Who will win the race?
KEYWORD: BIONICS
In robotics, engineers often try to borrow abilities and techniques
from nature. The science of doing this is called
bionics, coined from
the Greek word for “life.”
Bats have a lot of useful abilities to offer bionics, particularly their
ultrasound echolocation system. Bats emit ultrasound waves that
bounce back off of objects located in their surroundings, which the
bat can use to interpret the objects’ locations. Robots also take
advantage of systems like this. For example, they use echolocation
systems to find out how far away obstacles are.
EXPERIMENT 5
36