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Plantoid
A plantoid is a robot or synthetic biology, synthetic organism designed to look, act and grow like a plant. The concept was first scientifically published in 2010 (although models of comparable systems controlled by neural networks date back to 2003) and has so far remained largely theoretical. Plantoids imitate plants through appearances and mimicking behaviors and internal processes (which function to keep the plant alive or to ensure its survival). A prototype for the European Commission is now in development by сonsortium of the following scientists: Dario Floreano, Barbara Mazzolai, Josep Samitier, Stefano Mancuso. A plantoid incorporates an inherently distributed computing#Architectures, distributed architecture consisting of autonomous and specialized modules. Modules can be modeled on plant parts such as the root cap and communicate to form a simple swarm intelligence. This kind of system may display great robustness and resilience. It is conjectured to be capable of energy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stefano Mancuso
Stefano Mancuso (born 9 May 1965) is an Italian botanist, professor of the Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry department at his alma mater, the University of Florence. He is the director of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology, steering committee member of the Society of Plant Signaling and Behavior, editor-in-chief of the ''Plant Signaling & Behavior'' journal and a member of the Accademia dei Georgofili. Biography Mancuso developed an interest in the research of plants during his university studies. Since 2001, he has been a professor at the University of Florence, and in 2005 he founded the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology, designed to study physiology, behavior, molecular biology, intelligence, and other fields of plant science. Scientific research Inspiration and predecessors Plant neurobiology deals with the memory research (including transgenerational and epigenetic learning) of experience (for example, mimosa pudica, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plant Cognition
Plant cognition or plant gnosophysiology is the study of the mental capacities of plants. It explores the idea that plants are capable of responding to and learning from stimuli in their surroundings in order to choose and make decisions that are most appropriate to ensure survival. Over recent years, experimental evidence for the cognitive nature of plants has grown rapidly and has revealed the extent to which plants can use senses and cognition to respond to their environments. Some researchers claim that plants process information in similar ways as animal nervous systems. History The idea of cognition in plants was first explored by Charles Darwin in the late 1800s in the book ''The Power of Movement in Plants'', co-authored with his son Francis. Using a neurological metaphor, he described the sensitivity of plant roots in proposing that the tip of roots acts like the brain of some lower animals. This involves reacting to sensation in order to determine their next movement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biorobotics
Biorobotics is an interdisciplinary science that combines the fields of biomedical engineering, cybernetics, and robotics to develop new technologies that integrate biology with mechanical systems to develop more efficient communication, alter genetic information, and create machines that imitate biological systems. Cybernetics Cybernetics focuses on the communication and system of living organisms and machines that can be applied and combined with multiple fields of study such as biology, mathematics, computer science, engineering, and much more. This discipline falls under the branch of biorobotics because of its combined field of study between biological bodies and mechanical systems. Studying these two systems allow for advanced analysis on the functions and processes of each system as well as the interactions between them. History Cybernetic theory is a concept that has existed for centuries, dating back to the era of Plato where he applied the term to refer to the "gov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jikuu Senshi Spielban
is a Japanese tokusatsu television series, part of the Metal Hero Series franchise created by Toei Co. Ltd. and aired from to . ''Spielbans footage was used for Saban’s live-action series, ''VR Troopers''. For distribution purposes, Toei Company refers to this television series as ''Spielvan''. Plot The Waller Empire destroys the planet Clin in search of water for its deity. Two Clinian children, Spielban and Diana, escape to Earth aboard the Grand Nasca. The two grow up during the long journey and don High Tech Crystal Suits to defeat the Waller who have come to Earth in search of more water. Spielban must avenge his dead mother Anna and his homeworld, and find his missing father Ben and older sister Helen. Unknown to Spielban at the start of the series his father and sister have been made members of the Waller against their will. Characters Grand Nasca crew Spielban's group is based on the super dimensional mothership Grand Nasca, the source of Spielban and Diana's ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flower Robots
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. Flowers may facilitate outcrossing (fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals in a population) resulting from cross-pollination or allow selfing (fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower) when self-pollination occurs. There are two types of pollination: self-pollination and cross-pollination. Self-pollination occurs when the pollen from the anther is deposited on the stigma of the same flower, or another flower on the same plant. Cross-pollination is when pollen is transferred from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower on a different individual of the same species. Self-pollination happens in flowers where the stamen and carpel mature at the same time, and are positioned so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the List of most visited websites, second most visited website, after Google Search. YouTube has more than 2.5 billion monthly users who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos each day. , videos were being uploaded at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute. In October 2006, YouTube was bought by Google for $1.65 billion. Google's ownership of YouTube expanded the site's business model, expanding from generating revenue from advertisements alone, to offering paid content such as movies and exclusive content produced by YouTube. It also offers YouTube Premium, a paid subscription option for watching content without ads. YouTube also approved creators to participate in Google's Google AdSens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Community Research And Development Information Service
The Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) is the European Commission's primary public repository and portal to disseminate information on all European Union (EU) funded research projects and their results in the broadest sense. The website and repository include all public information held by the Commission (project fact-sheets, publishable reports, links to publications and deliverables), editorial content to support dissemination and exploitation, and comprehensive links to external sources such as open access publications and websites. Advisory services on conducting research using CORDIS is available at European Documentation Centres across the EU. Services and activities CORDIS offers access to a broad range of information and services on EU research, including: *The primary repository oEU-funded research projects and their results including the formal deliverables collected by the European Commission *Multilingual "Results in brief" that summarise th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used by Károly Ereky in 1919, meaning the production of products from raw materials with the aid of living organisms. Definition The concept of biotechnology encompasses a wide range of procedures for modifying living organisms according to human purposes, going back to domestication of animals, cultivation of the plants, and "improvements" to these through breeding programs that employ artificial selection and hybridization. Modern usage also includes genetic engineering as well as cell and tissue culture technologies. The American Chemical Society defines biotechnology as the application of biological organisms, systems, or processes by various industries to learning about the science of life and the improvement of the value of materials ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tactile Sensor
A tactile sensor is a device that measures information arising from physical interaction with its environment. Tactile sensors are generally modeled after the biological sense of cutaneous receptor, cutaneous touch which is capable of detecting stimuli resulting from mechanical stimulation, temperature, and pain (although pain sensing is not common in artificial tactile sensors). Tactile sensors are used in robotics, computer hardware and security systems. A common application of tactile sensors is in touchscreen devices on mobile phones and computing. Tactile sensors may be of different types including piezoresistive, piezoelectric, optical, capacitive and elastoresistive sensors.. Tactile sensors also come in the form of pressure indicating films that reveal pressure distribution and magnitude between contacting surfaces by virtue of an immediate and permanent color change. These pressure indicating films are one-time use sensor that capture the maximum pressure they were ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed to evoke human form, but most robots are task-performing machines, designed with an emphasis on stark functionality, rather than expressive aesthetics. Robots can be autonomous or semi-autonomous and range from humanoids such as Honda's ''Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility'' ( ASIMO) and TOSY's ''TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot'' (TOPIO) to industrial robots, medical operating robots, patient assist robots, dog therapy robots, collectively programmed ''swarm'' robots, UAV drones such as General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, and even microscopic nano robots. By mimicking a lifelike appearance or automating movements, a robot may convey a sense of intelligence or thought of its own. Autonomous things are expected to proliferate in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian McDonald (British Author)
Ian McDonald (born 1960) is a British science fiction novelist, living in Belfast. His themes include nanotechnology, postcyberpunk settings, and the impact of rapid social and technological change on non-Western societies. Early life Ian McDonald was born in 1960, in Manchester, to a Scottish father and Irish mother. He moved to Belfast when he was five and has lived there ever since. He lived through the whole of the 'Troubles' (1968–1999), and his sensibility has been permanently shaped by coming to understand Northern Ireland as a post-colonial society imposed on an older culture. Career McDonald sold his first story to a local Belfast magazine when he was 22, and in 1987 became a full-time writer. He has also worked in TV consultancy within Northern Ireland, contributing scripts to the Northern Irish Sesame Workshop production of ''Sesame Tree''. McDonald's debut novel was ''Desolation Road'' (1988), which takes place on a far future Mars in a town that develops around ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
