[Pollinator] Fwd: Robot Bees

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Thanks to Barry Thompson for this.
 
 
  
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From: bht1113 at aol.com
To: ladadams at aol.com
Sent: 2/24/2013 4:06:54  P.M. Pacific Standard Time
Subj: Fwd: Robot Bees


 



 
 
 
The March 2013  issue of Scientific American contains an interesting 
article on robotic  bees ("Flight of the robobees", pp. 60-65 or 
_ScientificAmerican.com/mar2013_ (http://scientificamerican.com/mar2013) /robobees.)  It's an 
article that you will want to read, discomfiting as it may  be.
   Although the  article ends with the caveats,
        "Although we have made a lot of progress, much work remains. 
         We anticipate that within a few years we will have RoboBees flying 
under  tightly controlled lab conditions. 
         Within 5 to 10 years beyond that, you may see them in widespread  
use."
it's clear to me that, with the miniaturization, and more importantly  the 
ability to have individual robots interact with one another (p.64), the  
concept has moved very far along already. Perhaps, we're about to see the  
mechanical expression of the neural networking that was envisioned by those  
researchers (including Gene Robinson, Jay Evans and Danny Weaver) who  proposed 
(in successfully seeking funding from the National Human Genome  Research 
Instritute [NHGRI] for the Bee Genome Project [sequencing of the  honey bee 
genome] several years ago) that the honey bee colony may  represent a 
reasonable model for the central nervous system of the  human - and therefore, a 
means by which to model, and test therapies for,  human mental illness.
   Small consolation, in the face of almost overwhelming  technology, may 
be sought in the knowledge that, at least for the near  future, robobees 
won't be making honey (even if they are programmed  ultimately to gather nectar 
and pollen for environmental assessment. 
Barry Thompson
   
 




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