FYI. las From: Brian Kenny Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 5:52 PM To: nma...@list.unm.edu Subject: Snake Dance
[This is a NMAC-L posting, do not simply "Reply" to sender.] * * useful in the crawl spaces of historic buildings and other artificial caves ? http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2013/09/30/robotic-snakes-sliver-their-way-into-ancient-archaeology/ 9/30/2013 @ 9:57PM |5,018 views Robotic Snakes Slither Their Way Into Ancient Archaeology Carnegie Mellon University’s robotic snake equipment outside Cave number 7 at the 4,000 year-old Egyptian Red Sea archaeological site. Credit: Mersa/Wadi Gawasis Archaeological Expedition of Boston University & the University of Naples "l'Orientale" To paraphrase REM, the ancient Egyptians were all too familiar with the “horrible asp.” But not even the most clairvoyant pharaohs could have imagined their kingdoms invaded by robotic snakes. In arguably an archaeological first, that’s exactly what happened a couple of years back. That’s when Boston University archaeologist Kathryn Bard and colleagues used a “modular robotic snake” designed and built by Carnegie Mellon University’s robotics lab to do a limited probe of a Middle Kingdom Red Sea cave. The team used the snake in two man-made caves in danger of collapse at a 4000 year-old boat harbor site at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis in Egypt. “The ancient Egyptians had excavated eight manmade caves into the fossil coral rocks there that they mainly used for storage facilities,” said Bard, who since 2001 has been co-director of a joint Italian-American expedition to the site. The boats themselves — constructed of large timbers of imported Lebanese cedar — were probably built at a ship-building yard in the Nile Valley before being disassembled to make the 100-mile desert trek to the harbor. Bard says they were reassembled at the site and sailed to ancient Punt, which lay somewhere in the southern Red Sea region, probably in present-day eastern Sudan or Eritrea. >From there, she says, the Egyptians usually returned laden with incense, >obsidian, elephant ivory and gold. Upon returning to the Egyptian Red Sea >harbor, some of the ships were disassembled; parts of which were stored in the >caves. Bard says her team used a Carnegie Mellon snake, fitted with an artificial skin, so that sand wouldn’t clog its gears. However, the robot itself was controlled by cables linked to a computer just outside the cave, on which the team was able to follow its real time progress via snake-camera video. “A snake robot can go left, right; up or down; climb and make multiple turns — we even developed gaits that allow it to climb up poles,” said Howie Choset, professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon University and head of its lab that produces the snakes. How does Choset do it? “What makes my group special is that we do a lot of basic research in four core fundamentals,” said Choset. They include: mechanism design; path planning, literally figuring out where the snake should go; motion control; and estimation. “Motion control determines how to coordinate the snake’s degrees of freedom so you can produce purposeful motion,” said Choset. “This is hard because you have many degrees of freedom. Estimation is figuring out that the snake is doing the right thing and is at the right location.” The ancient Egyptians may have retrieved elephant ivory from as far south as present day Sudan or Eritrea on the Red Sea coast. (Photo Credit: Wikipedia) The snakes have a world of other possibilities, but arguably are well-suited to search and rescue; law enforcement, particularly in assessing hostage situations; and in gainging virtual access to buildings for intelligence or military operations. In a clandestine operation, Choset says it would be possible for the snake to enter a building through a storm drain pipe, for instance. He says his lab is already working with DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) on how the U.S. defense research might best modify the robotic snakes to covertly enter buildings. But, meanwhile, if the political situation in Egypt calms down, says Bard, she and colleagues would like to go back and use a snake in the name of archaeology. At present, however, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities is not allowing any archaeologists to work in the eastern desert. Chris Roosevelt, an associate professor of archaeology also at Boston University, would like to use the snakes in a series of ancient Lydian burial mounds in western Turkey, just inland from Izmir on the Aegean coast. Area near the cave sites at Wadi Gawasis on Egypt’s Red Sea coast. Credit: Mersa/Wadi Gawasis Archaeological Expedition of Boston University & the University of Naples "l'Orientale" Through the years, the tombs have been looted and their tunnels have collapsed. “With as little new excavation and destruction of archaeological heritage as possible, we’re aiming to learn more about the Lydians in general by learning about their tombs,” said Roosevelt, who since 2005, has been a co-director of the ongoing Central Lydia Archaeological Survey. One way to do that, says Roosevelt, is to explore and document previously opened tombs; dating to the fifth and sixth centuries B.C.E. It’s both a question of safety and permitting. While the Turkish government might not approve of whole-scale excavation of several hundred tombs, Roosevelt says, they would be more open to using these non-invasive snakes. "Uncle Sam,” the snake robot held by Howard Wellman, the Red Sea project's conservator. Credit: Mersa/Wadi Gawasis Archaeological Expedition of Boston University & the University of Naples "l'Orientale" Roosevelt says he “sees great potential for using them” for his own project by summer 2014. Although archaeology has long used aerial and satellite imagery to find long-lost historical sites, robotic snakes with a multi-spectral imaging capability would potentially have the capacity to literally open up whole new wavelengths for excavations in close quarters. And as Bard points out, snake robots would also give archaeologists enough info about a site to develop an excavation game plan in advance of digging. “Snakes won’t help us with ancient cities and towns that are buried under soil deposits,” said Bard, “but would help with underground areas, such as caves or tombs, where you didn’t have the time or wherewithal to excavate.” But the snakes still have technical hurdles. As Choset cautions, there are no robotic snakes commercially available for any purpose and their range is still limited by the length of their tethers, which on relatively flat ground might only be 300 to 400 feet. What these robotic snakes really need, he says, is a commercialization experience. “It remains a university research project,” said Choset, “but we need commercialization to harden the robot.” -- Bravo Whiskey Kilo Brian .W Kenny Applied Anthropologist b.w.ke...@gmail.com https://twitter.com/dogyears https://www.facebook.com/b.w.kenny https://www.linkedin.com/pub/brian-w-kenny/55/2ba/664/ 202.630.7350 602.697.5754 Things scattered broken on the ground weave an excellent blanket covering another story.
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