Rocky the Robo-Squirrel

By Ryan Curtis, Montana

Finally, after years of painstaking research, our infiltration of the squirrel community is nearly complete. Using complex robotics, Sarah Partan and her team at Hampshire College have created a mechanical creature capable of mimicking squirrel communication and behavior. No word yet on whether or not it has located the squirrel John Conner.

The creation was dubbed “Rocky,” after the cartoon character, or the boxer who was able to single handedly topple the Soviet Empire. Rocky’s mission is to aid the team in breaking down the complex web of squirrel communication, which includes “flagging” of tails and barking. Understanding the squirrel, apparently, is the first step in defeating it.

The team’s project is similar to the efforts of a number of teams around the world working to penetrate other animal societies. Researchers in Brussels have been able to use robot cockroaches to lure real cockroaches out into the open for more efficient slaughter. And Jack Bradbury, an ornithologist with Cornell University, was able to talk to a parrot through speakers hidden in a bush. The parrot was later seen encouraging other parrots to follow a set of commandments. At Indiana University, researchers were even able to build a robot that could successfully challenge male lizards to push up contests. Can complete control of the reptile psyche be far behind?

“Whether it's a bunch of squirrels in a field or humans in a mall, there are general principles of behavior that seem to hold up across species lines,” said Greg Demas, director of Indiana University's Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior. This indicates just one eventual outcome of this line of research: creating robots that can successfully challenge humans to push up contests.

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