Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology attached small robots to the back of turtles and enabled the machine to steer the animal by delivering it snacks. Eventually, they hope to use similar systems to control fish and birds. The technology could lead to parasitic robot/animal "teams" for surveillance, exploration, and disaster response. From New Scientist:
The robots comprised a processor, a frame that stuck out in front of the turtle’s head holding five red LEDs spaced apart, and a food-ejecting tube. They then had to ride their turtle through five checkpoints in a tank filled with water...
The turtles were first conditioned to associate a lit-up LED with food. The robot then simply guided it using the LEDs and fed it snacks as a reward for going in the right direction. Using this process, five robot-turtle pairs successfully completed the course, and each sped up with practice.
"Parasitic Robot System for Waypoint Navigation of Turtle" (Journal of Bionic Engineering)

Fish farmers on Canada’s Vancouver Island spotted an eagle in the clutches of a giant Pacific octopus. Realizing the eagle would soon drown, the men freed the raptor from the cephalopod’s tentacles and set it free. “He deprived the poor octopus of a good meal,” University of Lethbridge octopus expert Jennifer Mather joked to The […]
A man in Maine realized one of his female ducks was heartbroken after a bobcat “snatched her two fellow ducks from owner Chris Morris’ yard on Dry Moon Lane about two weeks ago.”
In Prescott Valley, Arizona, David Keller was annoyed by the number of people he believes are falsely registering their pets as service animals so they can take them anywhere they want. So he visited a site called USAServiceDogRegistration.com and registered a hive of bees as his service animals. Of course, as service dog trainer Jaymie […]
Concerned about your eyesight? You probably should be. And we’re not just talking about seniors here. Young or old, we’re all at risk of coming down with vision issues Most of us might get a vision test only once every couple of years or so when we get a new pair of glasses – if […]
We love our smartphones and tablets, but we also love to write. For a while now, there hasn’t been a workable solution. Either hook it up to a keyboard (which defeats the purpose of a portable gadget) or resign ourselves to typing on tiny, unresponsive glass icons. Looks like technology has finally caught up to […]
So you’ve got an iPhone 11 Pro Max. It’s an impressive piece of hardware – sometimes, too impressive. The more you’re compelled to use it, the more an age-old problem pops up: The dreaded low battery warning. Even if you’re on the go, perhaps the best solution to this is also pretty unobtrusive. It’s the […]