A team of scientists have developed a robotic rat that could eventually help rescue people from man-made and natural disasters.
Researchers from the Bristol Robotics Lab and the University of Sheffield have developed the SCRATCHbot, which can find objects using its sensory whiskers in dark or smoky rooms. And unlike previous rodent-like machines, SCRATCHbot adapts the way it moves its whiskers when it makes contact with an obstacle.
The project was inspired by the use of touch in the animal kingdom – specifically how rats explore their environments using whiskers in poorly-lit places.
Watch the robot rat at work:
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