Here a story in the Lobster that was in our local paper. I am nolong with Massa right after 9-11 funding on a lot of jobs was held up so it was one more lay-off for me
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LOBSTER LA NAVY: Hingham company gets $1.3M contract to perfect robotic crustacean capable of detecting mines
By FRANCEEN SHAUGHNESSY The Patriot Ledger
HINGHAM - An underwater battalion of lobster-like robots developed by a Hingham company could become the Navy's newest line of defense against mines.
Massa Products Corp. of Hingham and Northeastern University are beginning a three-year project to perfect a robot designed to detect mines in water 10 to 40 feet deep. They have been awarded a $1.3 million contract by the federal Office of Naval Research.
Joseph Ayers, a biology professor at Northeastern University, thought of and designed the lobster robot in the early 1990s. The idea grew from his 33 years of studying how lobsters walk and search the sea floor for food.
Shortly after working out his first design, Ayers and the Marine Science Center at Northeastern University teamed with Massa Products to build a prototype.
The lobsters are designed according to the principles of a relatively new science called biomimetics,'' in which machines are created to mimic the movements and behavior of living things.
The idea of building robots on this basis is really starting to catch on,'' Ayers said.
Traditionally, robots with artificial intelligence have been designed by computer scientists. Biomimetic robots are designed by biologists.
In the lobster robot's case, the idea is to have it search for mines the same way a lobster searches for food.  |