Scientists have already applied robots like Roomba to work in the agriculture (农业). A Roomba works because it has wheels that function well on flat ground. However, fields are full of rough and rocky environments, which means it is difficult for robots to work in the fields. Luckily, scientists thought of centipedes (蜈蚣). With tens to hundreds of legs, they can move on any places without stopping. If they stop moving their body parts and feet, they basically stop moving instantly.
A team led by Chong developed a theory that proposes that adding leg pairs to the robot increases its ability to move firmly over challenging environments.
To test this, Juntao conducted a series of experiments where he and Daniel Soto built models to simulate (模拟) different natural environments. He then tested the robot by increasing its number of legs by two each time, starting with six and finally increasing to 16. As the leg count increased, the robot could more easily move across the surfaces, even without sensors. Finally, they tested the robot outdoors on real environments, where it was able to move in a variety of environments.
The researchers are applying their discoveries to farming. Goldman has co-founded a company that wants to use these robots to weed (除草) farmland where weedkillers are ineffective. “It’s truly impressive to see the multilegged robot easily moves on both lab-based and outdoor environments,” Juntao said. “Now we are deciding the most suitable number of legs to achieve motion. In the future, we hope to apply them for space exploration, and even search and rescue.”
【小题1】What can we learn about Roomba?| A．It can move on any places without stopping. |
| B．It can not work well in the rough farmlands. |
| C．It was newly invented and still in its early age. |
| D．It was inspired when scientists saw centipedes |
| A．Unpractical. | B．Amusing. | C．Ineffective. | D．Promising. |
| A．It will reach consumers soon. | B．It will increase farm production. |
| C．It will be used in many other fields. | D．It will take the place of weedkillers. |
| A．Centipedes Inspire Multilegged Robots’ Invention |
| B．Scientists Get a Huge Step in Studying Centipedes |
| C．Scientists Solved Challenges in Robots’ Creation |
| D．Multilegged Robots Brought Benefits to Farming |
