BEAM ROBOTICS AND NERVOUS NETWORKS

B.E.A.M. ROBOTS acronym for

BIOLOGY ELECTRONICSAESTHETICSMECHANICAL

The aim is

· Use minimalist electronics

· Recycle & Reuse components out of techno scrap

· Solar power it if possible

• The brains used to control BEAM "life forms" are very simple compared to the rats-nets of wiring and circuitry in conventional robots. • These brains, also called NERVOUS NETWORKS, contain no microprocessors with many BEAM critters having fewer transistors than a common radio.

Some of the great children of this philosophy are…

One of the simple beam bots (with legs) Photovore - likes light.

• The NERVOUS NETWORK is an interconnection of basic elemental circuits called the pulse delay circuits like neuron,generating square wave and hence functioning as an oscillator.• The most significant characteristic of nervous network is absence of microprocessor and other complicated circuitry to enable locomotion. The nervous network in robotic limb control is simple and autonomous , and any incorporated complex circuitry in the robot can be fully dedicated to the actual purpose of the robot rather than its locomotion.

Nervous Networks

• Autonomous legged creatures, to move and react effectively within their environment, require precise synchronizing control circuitry and the ability to adapt to new conditions as they arise. • Until now, all attempts to create such a device have involved elaborate arrangements of feedback systems utilizing complex sensor inputs and extensive control and sequencing circuitry hard-wired to one or more central processors. • Such a robot is extremely complex and expensive to build, even to accomplish very simple tasks. Moreover, due to the complexity of such a device and its heavy reliance on a central processing system power requirements are enormous, and a relatively minor problem, such as injury to a limb, is likely to cause total system failure. Such walking devices are accordingly impractical for other than experimental or educational uses.

PROBLEMS IN CONVENTIONAL ROBOTS

• The nervous technology overcomes the given problems and other disadvantages by providing a completely different control system approach. • Rather than utilizing a central processor to process sensor information and responsively drive all mechanical processes, the device of the robot utilizes a reconfigurable central network oscillator to sequence the processes of the devices limbs, each of which is it autonomous. Once activated, each limb sequentially executes its processes independent of the central sequencer.

APPROACH OF THE NERVOUS NETWORKS

• The application of nervous networks in robotics to nullify complex circuitry in the control of the locomotion of the robot has been achieved. • A judicious distribution of the various types of PNC's throughout the central sequencing circuit and the limb control circuits will integrate the various limb processes for smoother performance, and will facilitate the useand effects of many different types of sensors to render the device fully autonomous. • It will be apparent that a walking device embodying the nervous network will have applications in many industries. Such a walking device could patrol secured premises with a video camera transmitting signals to a remote recorder; could carry out cleaning and maintenance functions in inaccessible areas such as pipes, or in hazardous areas such as nuclear reactors.

APPLICATIONS OF NERVOUS NETWORKS

• The pulse delay circuit is very inexpensive and all components are presently available "off the shelf". Power requirements are very small. • The control circuits simplify mechanical process controls to mere pulse trains, requiring no microprocessor, so that if a microprocessor is utilized it can be virtually entirely dedicated to task planning and information retrieval. • The process controllers are self-stabilizing, and since each limb is essentially autonomous it is unnecessary to hardwire all actuators and sensors to the central torso; moreover, if a limb is damaged or malfunctions it can be removed from the sequence automatically, without affecting the central sequencing processes or the operation of any other limb.

ADVANTAGES OF THE NERVOUS NETWORKS

• The future of BEAM is brighter as a clear sky sun. From a state of hobby it will emerge as a branch of study. • New walking mechanisms touch and vision systems,and encrusted robots withphotodiode scales are some recent innovations. • Swarms of B.E.A.M. bots could cut, vacuum your home and workplace (picture a colony of dung beetles wrangling dust bunnies), scrub out toxic chemical tanks, hunt down insect pests, re-seed the rain forest, and terrify the cats, dogs, and kids in your neighborhood. The possibilities are endless.

FEATURE OF THE B.E.A.M ROBOTICS

THANK Q