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Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Bees Solve Complex Problems Faster Than Supercomputers



Extract taken from:http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/07/bees-solve-complex-problems-faster-than-supercomputers-weekend-feature.html


In a landmark 2010 study, researchers found that bumblebees were able to figure out the most efficient routes among several computer-controlled "flowers," quickly solving a complex problem that even stumps supercomputers. We already know bees are pretty good at facial recognition, and researchers have shown they can also be effective air-quality monitors. 

Bumblebees can solve the classic "traveling salesman" problem, which keeps supercomputers busy for days. They learn to fly the shortest possible route between flowers even if they find the flowers in a different order, according to the British study

Friday, 6 July 2012

'Most realistic' robot legs developed

An interesting article on the BBC news website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18724114 about a 'more realistic robot legs' based on modelling how babies learn to walk based around central pattern generation (ie. neural networks that produce rhythmic and pattern outputs without necessarily an input).