Researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have managed to remotely control the movements of a turtle using a non-invasive steering system.
The team used completely untrained red-eared sliders for their research, and played with their innate obstacle-avoidance behaviour. If they see that something is blocking their path in one direction, they naturally move to avoid it. In order to control the turtles' movements, researchers attached a black half cylinder to the turtle, a little like the visor of a motorcycle helmet, but opaque and with a cover on the top to block any light from above. This was initially positioned around the turtles rear end, but was pivoted around using a microcontroller and a servo motor to either the left or the right to partially block the turtles vision on one side. This made the turtle believe there was an obstacle it needed to avoid on that side and so encouraged it to move in the other direction.
By: Olivia Solon, Edited by: Ian Steadman
Continue reading...Source: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-04/25/turtles-remote-control
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