Robo-Raven
is a new reconnaissance and surveillance drone developed by the Army Research
Laboratory. [image]
Detectible to radar, this drone isn’t stealth. But it adds some new
twists to what we normally associate with camouflage. As a surveillance
and reconnaissance drone, the small Robo-Raven is designed to gather
information while flying over a stationary or mobile target.
These basic
functions, alone, would make Robo-Raven little different from any other
military drone. However, reconnaissance and surveillance aren‘t it‘s only
functions. This drone also designed to accomplish its mission while being
observed, but not identified. In other words, Robo-Raven is designed not
just to look like a bird, but to be reliably mistaken for a bird. [video]
Making a
military combat or reconnaissance device look like something else is nothing
new. It’s camouflage.
During
World War II, airplanes were painted a particular color and outfitted with
carefully positioned lights, which made them blend into the sky. This
delayed identification by ground spotters and allowed an addition measure of
surprise.
Military
vehicles are painted with an irregular green, gray, brown, and black pattern to
blend into surrounding foliage. Now used in fashion clothing, that
particular color pattern retains the name “camouflage.”
These
examples use paint and lights (counter illumination) to achieve visual crypsis.
Crypsis is a type of camouflage in which an object is designed to blend into a
certain type of background, making the object difficult to see or detect.
However,
Robo-Raven adds something new to drone technology as, perhaps, one of the most
advanced and innovative examples of the use of mimesis. Mimesis is
particular form of camouflage less mysteriously called masquerade: the
camouflaged object looks like something else, which is of no special interest
to the observer.
Robo-Raven
is designed not only to look like a bird, but also to move like a bird.
The drone’s wings are designed to move independently and make its bodily
movements more naturally match those of a bird. But that’s not all.
This drone’s pattern of flight is characteristic of a bird.
So, to
improve its masquerade, Robo-Raven is equipped with a substantial set of
animatronic movements replicating a bird’s kinesics (body language) and manner
of flight. Borrowed from Hollywood, animatronics is the art and
technology of designing mechanical models of animals that move like the real
thing. These models are, generally, used to create the illusion of real
animals for film audiences. In Hollywood, animatronics is about
entertainment. But, with Robo-Raven,
animatronics is about concealment.
So,
Robo-Raven isn’t just a camouflaged object that moves. This drone’s animatronic movements are part
of its camouflage — part of its masquerade. But Robo-Raven’s masquerade
doesn’t end with its appearance and movement. It has something more.
Something that takes it deeply into the world of biorobotics
The term
biorobotics refers to a special subfield of robotics: the study of how to make
robots emulate or simulate living biological organisms. For example, when
students of animal behavior observed that the leader of a school of fish beat,
or swished, its tail with greater frequency than the followers in the rest of
the school, they formulated the question: Does a particular tail movement make
a particular fish the leader of a school?
To answer
this question, researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University
used a basic form of biorobotics. They designed a “bio-inspired” robotic
fish, which mimics the tail movements of a swimming fish. This robotic
fish’s tail could be set to beat at different speeds by remote
control. When researchers placed their robotic fish in a water tunnel
with a school of golden shiner fish, the robotic fish was ignored. But
when its tail speed was set on high, it became the leader.
The robotic
fish was more than just a robot with animatronic movements designed to
entertain or even fool human beings. Its movements were designed to fool
other fish. And Robo-Raven can do the same with other birds.
John
Gerdes, mechanical engineer with the Aberdeen Proving Ground has reported that
Robo-Raven “already attracts the attention” of birds in its area.
“[S]eagulls, crows, and songbirds have flown around the Raven in formation,”
and the drone has been attacked (unsuccessfully) by “hawks and falcons.” [video] So, Robo-Raven’s
animatronic movements not only fool humans, they also fool other birds.
Of course,
Robo-Raven is designed to fool human observers into believing that it’s a
bird. But this drone’s ability to fool real birds is not just an
interesting sidelight — it was one of the design objectives. Fooling
other birds is yet another level of Robo-Raven’s masquerade.
The
designers understood that this drone’s “social interaction” with other birds
would also be observed by humans. When Robo-Raven is seen flying with a
flock of real birds or being attacked by real birds, human observers will be
all the more certain that Robo-Raven is “just a bird” — not a reconnaissance
and surveillance drone.
So,
Robo-Raven’s masquerade is composed of its appearance, its movements and, even,
its interactive behavior. In other words, this drone has the appearance
and movements of a bird plus something more. Robo-Raven has the behavior
of a bird among birds.
Robo-Raven
is a substantial step forward in both drone technology and biorobotics: a robot
that, outwardly, so closely resembles a bird that it becomes more difficult for
people or animals to distinguish between the real and the robotic. In the
future, we may all be eying the birds around us — wondering whether they’re
really birds. This technology certainly turns the table on birdwatchers.
Who’s watching who?
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