[名校联盟]广东省化州市实验中学高中英语选修七：Unit 2.ppt

* Unit 2 Robots 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 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 looks like a spider with four legs. Until now, even the most advanced robot was almost certain to break down when damaged. That’s because its inside computer simply doesn’t know how to operate the machine after its shape has changed. To get around this problem, the spidery robot’s developers equipped their invention with eight motors and two sensors that read how the machine is tilting. The motors and sensors all provide electrical signals for the machine’s software. Using this information, the system follows a new procedure to figure out the machine’s 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 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 it’s far from scary. ”The technology may someday help researchers create 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