1、Unit 2Robots机器人zxxkw学科网学科网学.科.网机器人一词最早诞生于科幻小说中，人们对其充满了想象。从机器人问世到现在仅有几十年的历史，但发展迅速，新机型、新功能的机器人不断涌现，让我们一起来看一下下面文章中的机器人吧！Unstoppable robots In some of the scariest science fiction,harmful robots refuse to die,no matter how fiercely people fight back.Now,science fiction has changed into science fact.For
2、the first time,researchers have created a robotic machine that can stand a beating and keep on walking.Developed by scientists from Cornell University and the University of Vermont,the new robot lookslike a spider with four legs.Until now,even the most advanced robot was almost certain to break down
3、 when damaged.Thats because its inside computer simply doesnt know how to operate the machine after its shape has changed.To get around this problem,the spidery robots developers equipped their invention with eight motors and two sensors that read how the machine is tilting.The motors and sensors al
4、l provide electrical signals for the machines software.Using this information,the system follows a new procedureto figure out the machines shape at any given moment.The program chooses from among 100,000 possible arrangements of parts.From there,the computer considers a wide variety of next possible
5、 steps,and it calculates how best to move the robot forward the longest possible distance,before trying to move again.“The new strategy is a major advance in robotics”,Professor Skehan,a scientist in Cornell University says,“and its far from scary.”The technology may someday help researchers create
6、better artificial arms and legs that give new freedom to people who lack them.The new knowledge might also help scientists understand how people and animals figure out their own sense of place in space.zxxkw“Designing robots that can adapt to changing environments and can compensate for damage has been a difficult problem,”says neuroscientist Olaf Sporns of Indiana University in Bloomington.“This work provides a new way toward solving this important problem.”
