Robotics and Biology?

[Bcahn836]

I found a web site that connects biology with robotics, biomechanics. it shows and connects how animals move and robotics. And shows nature's engineering and human technology. This is pretty cool.

http://www.thetech.org/exhibits_even...ling/robotzoo/

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by Bcahn836

I found a web site that connects biology with robotics, biomechanics. it shows and connects how animals move and robotics. And shows nature's engineering and human technology. This is pretty cool.

http://www.thetech.org/exhibits_even...ling/robotzoo/

Yeah, this is one of my favorite things. I love biology and I also love robotics, so this might be something I'm thinking about in the future. Good find.

[Lisa Perez]

I don't know about other universities, but the University of Michigan and Case Western Reserve both have pretty sweet biomechanics labs - they both have cockroach-like creations which simulate the movement (walking, jumping, etc.) of actual cockroaches on different surfaces.. Pretty sweet stuff.

[Astronouth7303]

I heard about this a while back (Read: years and years). It's pretty cool, But I wish it came to West MI.

[Adam Y.]

This is really really really really really really really old. I was six or seven when I first heard about this. I have the book floating around someplace.

[Astronouth7303]

How about something more recent?

In the Febuary 2004 issue of Popular Science, the cover article was called "Mind over Macine", and involved some people at Duke University hooking a monkey up to a robot arm. (When I say 'hook up', I mean litterally).

Here's the article.

[Bcahn836]

Try this one from Harvard.
http://www.biorobotics.harvard.edu/p...Howe021804.pdf
this kinda works with the 2004 game FIRST FRENZY.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

This sounds really exciting. It isn't an easy major to see when you just look at a college profile. Is there a category it falls under? Biomedical engineering? Mechanical engineering? Biomolecular? Biology?

This would probably be my major of choice.

[Bcahn836]

Biomedical Engineering-
https://engineering.purdue.edu/BME/

Biomechanical Engineering-
http://www.stanford.edu/group/biomech/

Bionuclear Engineering- http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/dept/Cou...es/bionuc.html

More Information on Biology Engineering
http://depts.washington.edu/bioaa/index.html


I hope this helps.

[Scott England]

Originally Posted by a breezy era

This sounds really exciting. It isn't an easy major to see when you just look at a college profile. Is there a category it falls under? Biomedical engineering? Mechanical engineering? Biomolecular? Biology?

This would probably be my major of choice.

Depending on what university you end up at would affect how you find this field. While not all major engineering schools have specific degrees in biomechanical or biomedical engineering, Just about any major university with an Engineering Department will at least have some classes taught in the field as a branch of mechanical, electrical, or some other large field of engineering that you can focus your area of study with. I can think of several dozen biomechanics labs spread across the country off the top of my head and I'm sure there are many more. Virginia Tech just recently started offering a graduate program (MS, PhD, MD) in Biomedical Engineering by cooperating with Wake Forest. At the undergraduate level you really just major in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial Systems Engineering or Engineering Science and Mechanics and work with professors to tailor your specialty however you'd like.

Here at Virginia Tech specifically, we've got 5 biomedical engineering oriented labs that I know of and there may be more. I'm typing this in the Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratory where i'm a graduate research assistant, we focus on trunk stiffness, back fatigue, strain, and injury, causes and results of falls, modelling of human gait, bipedal robotics and so on (shameless plug http://www.biomechanics.esm.vt.edu/msbiolab/) Next door is a lab that works primarily in Aerospace medicine, studying various stuff about inner ears and applying their discoveries to pilots and astronauts. Across the quad there are labs that work on impact biomechanics (car crashes, sports injuries etc), medical device development, workplace safety through fatigue reduction and so on.

If you've got several specific colleges you're looking at, just try a google search with the university name and "biomechanics" or "biomedical engineering" or anything related to field, it worked nicely for me just now finding stuff for Virginia Tech, Penn State, and Georgia Tech.