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Linux Software Science Hardware Technology

Linux-Based Robot To Explore The Forest 84

Posted by timothy from the sasquatch-is-running-scared dept.
crashoverride025 contributes this link to a BBC story about Treebot, "A Linux-based mobile robot equipped with a webcam and sensors swings into action to help monitor forests." Despite the Tarzan reference, it looks like this robot moves along a cable, rather than swinging from place to place.
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Linux-Based Robot To Explore The Forest More

Linux-Based Robot To Explore The Forest

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  • Oh, just great... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Now the forests are going to be polluted with non-indigenous directory trees!

    --
    Rate Naked People [fuckmeter.com] at FuckMeter (not work-safe)
  • I hope they have a good HSF, lest it overheat and start a forest fire.
    • One Bot
    • Two Bot
    • ???

  • what leads to... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by demonhold ( 735615 ) on Monday December 29, 2003 @07:06AM (#7826805) Journal
    what we all agreed before...

    probes sent to mars should've been run by linux. Instead of worrying us to no end, now we would be discussing the data obtained and ways of improving the performance of futere missions.

    Not only that, I'm sure that the code for those probes beeing opensource would've meant people contributing and finding solutions and apps no one would've thought of...

    Wouldn't it be lovely that the routines of a mission to space would've been a truly world project, with programmers from all over the world taking part in it?

    Well, I'm dreaming, maybe I'm not...

    • Re:what leads to... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Monday December 29, 2003 @07:36AM (#7826871)
      probes sent to mars should've been run by linux

      Are you kidding? what do you think they run, Windows?

      Linux is great, but nowhere near the level of certification required for software that runs on space probes. The latter, as well as software running on airplane computers, space shuttles, etc ... are so strictly checked that many parts of them are proven mathematically, with great care, at great expenses.

      Just propose NASA or ESA to power their stuff with Linux and they'll probably look at you with a thin smile and the kind of condescending look one makes while shooing a slightly annoying retarded child.

      • Re:what leads to... (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Try again, windows is not a certified OS and is not used for flight critical functions in airplanes. VxWorks, VRTX and QNX are currently the main certified OS's used aboard aircraft. Of course the TV screen support might be run by MS
      • so NASA uses LINUX after all...

        who's the retarded child then?

        well I guess you didn't mean it as an insult

      • Actually not all airplane computers run sophisticated O/S's. I work for a company that produces GPS guidance/navigation systems for planes/helicopters and our systems use Ms-Dos 6.22, no joke. We're slowly moving our systems to Linux (if everything goes well it'll be done by June) but we've used Dos since '86 in aircraft.

    • You mean like this ? (Score:2, Informative)

      by ErrorBase ( 692520 )
      http://flightlinux.gsfc.nasa.gov/ [nasa.gov] Or by proxy Like these [linuxjournal.com]
      • FlightLinux [nasa.gov] is a customized copy of a standard Linux distribution, adapted to the unique environment of a spacecraft embedded control computer.

        The first instance of FlightLinux will be on the 80386EX processor of the currently in-orbit UoSat-12 spacecraft, of Surrey Space Technology, Ltd (UK). As a basis, we are currently using the ELKS distribution, due to its small size. We will migrate to BlueCat Linux from LynuxWorks, and add real-time features as required.

        [...]

        At the moment, we have not posted any d
        • Using Linux in any way you choose is not restricted by the GPL.

          Restrictions based on agreement with the licensing conditions of the GPL are limited to the manner by which YOU offer code up for distribution.

          So if NASA chooses not to distribute their copy of the code, how are they in violation of the GPL?

          (I admit I'm not sure how, in this case, distribution within an organization might be regarded by the FSF law team.)
          • Where does the organization end, an another begin? NASA is a good place to examine this murky, yet fundamental, factor of the GPL. Can the GSFC [nasa.gov] use it internally, without triggering the distribution clauses? All of NASA? The US Federal Government? US Citizens? The American People?
            • Where does the organization end, an another begin?

              If the source code is provide to the recipient, it is a moot point. The GPL has been satisfied.

              Presumably this would only happen where (satellite) security concerns have been satisfied.
        • It's only a violation if they are distributing it. If you are not distributing it, you do not have to release the source.

          It would be neat to take a look tho'
    • Thats the whole point. NASA doesn't want anyone but them contributing to the project. They think they're smart enough and have it under control. They don't think they need help from anybody else.

  • An Alternative (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 29, 2003 @07:07AM (#7826806)
    Instead of remotely viewing a forest over the web, maybe a walk would solve some problems?
  • ..does it make a sound? My favorite line is "helps by being stealthy enough to travel through the forest canopy along specially-constructed cabling, night and day." Stealthy, riiight- it might scare the trees or the atmosphere.

  • Ooh Treebot... (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by Xpilot ( 117961 )
    Hooom... no one cares about the trees or free sharing of code anymore...it's all FUD and copyrights and lawsuits.... hooomm... time to rouse the forest!

    We come, we come with roll of drum: ta-runda runda runda rom!
    We come, we come with horn and drum: ta-runa runa runa rom!
    To Redmond! Though Redmond be ringed and barred with doors of stone;
    Though Redmond be strong and hard, as cold as stone and bare as bone,
    We go, we go, we go to war, to hew the stone and break the door;
    For bole and bough are burning
  • Finally, we'll find out...

    * Do bears shit in the woods?
    * If a tree falls and nobody's there to hear it, does it make a sound?
    * Is the Pope Catholic...

    Oh well, maybe 2 out of 3.
  • From the grant proposal: "As a source for ongoing additional funds, all Jane movies will be made available on a subscription website."
  • What runs the Jane robot? FreeBSD?
    And Cheetah? Unixware?

  • Yes but. (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    What happens if the kernel inside of it panics. I mean there are a lot of hazards in a jungle. It would be a lot better to use a specialised os than Linux. You cant just press a button to reboot it when its in the middle of nowhere. Linux is okay when its sitting on a rack serving up web pages or doing general workstation tasks, but when your in the forest, who knows what could happen.

  • stealth (Score:4, Funny)

    by Pompatus ( 642396 ) on Monday December 29, 2003 @07:40AM (#7826881) Journal
    helps by being stealthy enough to travel through the forest canopy along specially-constructed cabling

    I suppose a piece of metal crashing through tree branches hanging from a cable is more stealthy than, say a jackhammer. Wouldn't it be more quiet if many sensors were placed about the forest and used wifi to connect and send information? They could even still run linux to do so and get mentioned on slashdot!

    • I know it's a far stretch, but it's entirely possible that the team placing the cables might have, umm, you know, actually looked at the area while they worked. I know it's a bit of a challange for a college student to be able to identify branches, let alone avoid them while stringing the cables; but that's why they have advisors.

      As far as placing other sensors...well, if you had read a little bit farther in the article:

      ...and it talks to other fixed sensors on the ground around the forest.

    • Re:stealth (Score:3, Informative)

      by aXis100 ( 690904 )
      WiFi and tres dont mux well.

      1) Trees contain water. Water attentuates microwaves really well.

      2) Microwaves have a similar waevlength to leaves - lots of diffraction/
    • I must admit- although I am 100% robot advocate - I would consider a wi-fi distributed net a better use of resources. But I would agree with a real tree-climbing/swinging robot(not a robot on a rope) for the purpose of placing such things - as well as counting/tracking animal populations, and scaring off would be poachers and loggers.

      To be fair- a machine does not necesarily need to be all mobile to be classified as a robot anyway. I would imagine a wi-fi net of sensors to gather info in a forest just a
  • What this article really doens't say much about is that NIMS isn't just an open source program for controlling robots, it's a program developed by grants given to UCLA to develop AI, or Ambient Intelligence in this isntance. This robot isn't entirely remote controlled, and though the article touches on continual monitoring, it doesn't say that it's using open source robot AI developed by UCLA.

    For more info about NIMS:

    UCLA doc in PDF [ucla.edu]

    Google HTML Cache [216.239.41.104]

  • Cannibal Holocaust 2.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Channard ( 693317 ) on Monday December 29, 2003 @07:48AM (#7826898) Journal
    .. featuring web cam footage of the tragic demise of a team of SCO lawyers who went into the woods to impound the robot due to the makers not paying the Linux license fees for it, only to be eaten by a tribe of hithertoe unknown Cannibalistic Californian Forest Dwellers.

  • Routing to a mobile wireless sensor network node (Score:3, Informative)

    by dtmos ( 447842 ) on Monday December 29, 2003 @08:16AM (#7826990)

    As the article says, the treebot is part of a "Networked Infomechanical System", a type of wireless sensor network [crcpress.com], developed by the UCLA Center for Embedded Networked Sensing [ucla.edu]. The forest network [ucla.edu] is used to develop practical wireless sensing technology while simultaneously providing an example of its utility. The use of a mobile network node in a wireless sensor network requires some engineering of the multihop message routing protocol, since such networks are usually assumed to have stationary nodes. I don't know what they've done to address this; it could be anything from MANET [navy.mil]-style routing (e.g., AODV [ucsb.edu], in which they accept the resulting increase in route establishment overhead), to a quasi-static approach in which the treebot reassociates to the network every time it stops.

  • Despite the change of venue, the bot, nor the scientists who created it, are going to get laid. [bbspot.com]

    Hell, Tarzan had fewer cycles than the box they have swinging from tree to tree, but rain is the only way that box or its makers are going to get wet...
  • Maybe NASA should take note and start using Linux to save tax payer money powering their multi million dollar space shuttle toilets. If robots can watch logs, they can flush 'em too.

  • Design Screwup (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CrankyFool ( 680025 ) on Monday December 29, 2003 @10:32AM (#7827647)
    I heard about this some time ago. I seem to recall that due to the fact it's travelling along the tree tops, it has a problem actually seeing the forest because the trees get in the way ...

  • "rather than swinging from place to place."

    This is one of those comments that make you say "well, duh!", and then somebody just goes on and invents something that does this. It is quite a challenge on numerous levels.. would be impressive if someone pulled this one off..

  • Put cables with robots in every forest! They'll get in the way of people trying to cut down trees. Wait. How much will the forest be impacted by installation, maintenance, and resulting debris?

  • Neat. (Score:1)

    by ghost. ( 85872 )
    Maybe they can use this device to finally find those poor kids out in the woods near Burkittsville, MD [blairwitch.com]. They've been missing since 1994, I understand.
  • Fangorn Forest?
  • While a year around season should be maintained for treebots, shotguns should be limited to 20 gague or smaller, a bag and possession limit of three bots per week should be imposed and it should be considered bad etiquette to shoot a stationary bot.

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