To learn more about bird behavior, Duke University researchers go all Dr. Frankenstein by reanimating a dead sparrow with robotics.<\/p>\n
When sparrows attack. Robo-bird gets a beat-down from a living sparrow. <\/p>\n
It's a surprisingly dangerous world out there in the trees. Sparrows sing, flit about, and fight like they're auditioning for a role on \"Game of Thrones.\" Male swamp sparrows will even take their battles to the death. Before they get that far, though, there's a whole lot of wing-waving going on to mark their territory and signal their aggression. <\/p>\n
Duke University biologist Rindy Anderson wanted to learn more about how these birds communicate with each other, so she and engineering undergraduate student David Piech built a cyborg robo-battle-sparrow of doom. <\/p>\n
The Frankensparrow consisted of a miniature computer and robotics gear stuffed into the body of a dead sparrow. This allowed the researchers to control the wings. They took the Frankenstein sparrow to a breeding ground, played swamp sparrow invasion songs, and made it wave its wings at other males, the sparrow equivalent of flipping them the bird. <\/p>\n
\"I am broadly interested in male-male competition and in the mechanisms that maintain reliability in aggressive signaling systems,\" Anderson says. <\/p>\n
She discovered the birds were much more aggressive when the cyborg taxidermy waved its wings than when it was sitting still or just twisting around. She believes the wing-waving signals are a method the birds use to warn each other off and avoid a potentially damaging sparrow smackdown. <\/p>\n
I'm hoping the first time Anderson and Piech turned the sparrow on for a test drive, it was raining outside. Thunder sounded. Anderson raised her fists to the heavens as lightning split outside the window. \"My creation lives!\" she called out as the robo-sparrow flapped its wings. At least, that's how I imagine it went. <\/p>\n
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Researchers create cyborg robo-battle-sparrow of doom<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To learn more about bird behavior, Duke University researchers go all Dr. Frankenstein by reanimating a dead sparrow with robotics. Continue reading