Computer in bug?
Keith Lofstrom
Okay, we've read lots of stories about bugs in computers.
In this age of implantible microelectronics, has anyone put a
COMPUTER in a BUG? That is, a programmable sensor in an insect?
( If this small computer had a defect that caused the insect to crawl
into the engine controller of a Volkswagen, causing the vehicle to
crash through a wall and smash into a large mainframe, would that be a
bug in a computer in a bug in a computer in a bug in a computer? :-) )
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Ben Cranston
(Keith Lofstrom) writes:
> Okay, we've read lots of stories about bugs in computers.
> In this age of implantible microelectronics, has anyone put a
> COMPUTER in a BUG? That is, a programmable sensor in an insect?
There was a photomicrograph in Science News last year of a honeybee with
a silicon chip glued to its back. The chip was an infrared transponder that
somehow enabled scientists to study its movements. The caption read
"This bee has a chip on its shoulder!".
--
Sig DS.L ('ZBen') ; Ben Cranston <zb...@Trantor.UMD.EDU>
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* University of Maryland at College Park
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Scott Yelich
> COMPUTER in a BUG? That is, a programmable sensor in an insect?
Does the inset have to be alive?
What about "spy" bugs[insects]?
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Russell Brown
>COMPUTER in a BUG? That is, a programmable sensor in an insect?
Rod Brooks, of the AI Lab at MIT (as if there were another AI Lab)
has gone even further than that. He designed a computer bug (or was it a
bug computer). The thing is an artificial insect about six or eight inches
long with a couple of microprocessors on board. When he talked here last
year, he brought videotape of the thing crawling around the lab (over objects,
etc). I believe the thing was programmed to seek heat (as indicated by its
infrared sensors) since hot things might be food sources. Brooks claimed that
his next project was a robot iguana.
Russell G. Brown rbr...@cs.cornell.edu
D.S. Cartwright
>In this age of implantible microelectronics, has anyone put a
>COMPUTER in a BUG? That is, a programmable sensor in an insect?
>( If this small computer had a defect that caused the insect to crawl
>into the engine controller of a Volkswagen, causing the vehicle to
>crash through a wall and smash into a large mainframe, would that be a
>bug in a computer in a bug in a computer in a bug in a computer? :-) )
No, surely it would be a computer in a bug in a computer in a bug in a
computer ??
If, however, we revert to the original system whereby creatures are found
inside the electronics, we can thereby have a spider in the engine management
system of the car which eats the component containing the creature to
produce the above combination.
@
Now, as they say ; }:^)
@
Dave C.
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Norwich, ENGLAND. NR4 7TJ. | ... don't take it out on ME !!
Derek compression Gross
<kei...@vice.ICO.TEK.COM (Keith Lofstrom) writes:
<
<<In this age of implantible microelectronics, has anyone put a
<<COMPUTER in a BUG? That is, a programmable sensor in an insect?
<
<
< No, surely it would be a computer in a bug in a computer in a bug in a
<computer ??
<
apparently in the latest issue of National Geographic there is an article about
a robot bee that dances well enough to communicate with real bees...
unless of course there is a flaw with the software (a computer bug in a
computer bug)
Thomas Lapp
> >In this age of implantible microelectronics, has anyone put a
> >COMPUTER in a BUG? That is, a programmable sensor in an insect?
>
Well, there are two "bugs" I can think of. One was an artificial honeybee
which was a "blob" on the end of a stick that was connected to an X-Y
plotter (I believe). It was used to simulate a bee "dancing" the code
to a field of flowers.
The other that I can think of offhand is that someone has glued a microchip
on the back of an insect (again, a honeybee I think). Was used for tracking
purposes.
- tom
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>The other that I can think of offhand is that someone has glued a microchip
>on the back of an insect (again, a honeybee I think). Was used for tracking
>purposes.
In another similar project involving bees they glued barcodes to the back of
bees to track which bees were in the hive...
reb
r...@rtech.com reb%rtec...@lll-winken.llnl.GOV
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"I did not see Elvis. I did not see Elvis...." - Bart Simpson
"Oh, what a heaven is love! Oh, what a hell!" Thomas Dekker, 1604
Kirk Pearson
>> >In this age of implantible microelectronics, has anyone put a
>> >COMPUTER in a BUG? That is, a programmable sensor in an insect?
>>
>
>on the back of an insect (again, a honeybee I think). Was used for tracking
>purposes.
This is not "chip" related, but I saw a picture in an issue of Popular Science
(a few months back) of a bee with a tiny UPC code glued to it for tracking
purposes. I wonder how they scan the bee. :-)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||||
___ __ ___ Kirk Pearson
/ \/ \ | \ uunet!csu-cs!pearson
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\__ pearson%handel.cs.colostate.edu@cunyvm
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-- Bill Ramal
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||||
Jeff Osier
>>The other that I can think of offhand is that someone has glued a microchip
>>on the back of an insect (again, a honeybee I think). Was used for tracking
>>purposes.
>
>In another similar project involving bees they glued barcodes to the back of
>bees to track which bees were in the hive...
Does anyone remember a Danny Dunn (I think it was him -- whoever lived with
Professor Bullfinch) story in which the Professor designed a tiny dragonfly
that carried a camera, microphone, etc. and the "driver" was able to experience
everything the dragonfly experienced? Flew it around, etc....
One of my all-time favorite books and I can't remember the title. Too many
years gone by, I suppose (I haven't read it since I was nine).
JeffOs, the Big Mean Ugly Ruthless Media Librarian (Shhh!! This is a library!)
I work for the Screaming Computer Orgas... uh, make that
the Santa Cruz Operation.
I don't quote them, so they don't quote me.
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Dave Newton
+ This is not "chip" related, but I saw a picture in an issue of Popular Science
+ (a few months back) of a bee with a tiny UPC code glued to it for tracking
+ purposes. I wonder how they scan the bee. :-)
That's simple, they train them to fly upside down over those grocery-store
scanners...
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Fred Buechler [Devil Mountain Consulting]
>>> In article <47...@vice.ICO.TEK.COM> kei...@vice.ICO.TEK.COM (Keith Lofstrom) writes:
>>> >In this age of implantible microelectronics, has anyone put a
>>> >COMPUTER in a BUG? That is, a programmable sensor in an insect?
>>>
>>
>>The other that I can think of offhand is that someone has glued a microchip
>>on the back of an insect (again, a honeybee I think). Was used for tracking
>>purposes.
>
>This is not "chip" related, but I saw a picture in an issue of Popular Science
>(a few months back) of a bee with a tiny UPC code glued to it for tracking
>purposes. I wonder how they scan the bee. :-)
>
I read an article about this in some periodical. The scanner is mounted in
the entrance to the hive. The scientists doing this research are planning
an enhancement for next year -- they are going to also put a microscale in
the hive entrance to check the weight of individual bees coming and going.
They hope to be able to figure out how productive each bee is in pollen
gathering.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fred Buechler fr...@llama.rtech.com
Devil Mountain Consulting, Inc 71261...@compuserve.com
Concord, California # include <DISCLAIMERS.STD>
"Don't test for an error condition that you don't know how to handle"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kenneth Arromdee
>Does anyone remember a Danny Dunn (I think it was him -- whoever lived with
>Professor Bullfinch) story in which the Professor designed a tiny dragonfly
>that carried a camera, microphone, etc. and the "driver" was able to experience
>everything the dragonfly experienced? Flew it around, etc....
"Danny Dunn, Invisible Boy"
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Kenneth Arromdee (UUCP: ....!jhunix!arromdee; BITNET: arromdee@jhuvm;
INTERNET: arro...@crabcake.cs.jhu.edu)
jim frost
>Does anyone remember a Danny Dunn (I think it was him -- whoever lived with
>Professor Bullfinch) story in which the Professor designed a tiny dragonfly
>that carried a camera, microphone, etc. and the "driver" was able to experience
>everything the dragonfly experienced? Flew it around, etc....
>One of my all-time favorite books and I can't remember the title.
"Danny Dunn, Invisible Boy". Simplistic bug very amusing.
jim frost
saber software
ji...@saber.com
Evan A.C. Hunt
jeffos (Jeff Osier) writes:
>Does anyone remember a Danny Dunn (I think it was him -- whoever lived with
>Professor Bullfinch) story in which the Professor designed a tiny dragonfly
>that carried a camera, microphone, etc. and the "driver" was able to experience
>everything the dragonfly experienced? Flew it around, etc....
>years gone by, I suppose (I haven't read it since I was nine).
'Twas one of my favorites, too. "Danny Dunn--Invisible Boy" was
the title.
I'm going to have to reread some of the Danny Dunn books--they
must be hilarious now. I remember the first one I read, "Danny Dunn and
the Homework Machine", where the Professor, genius that he is, invents
the very first "miniature computer", which is supposed to be amazing
because it only covers one wall rather than taking up an entire building.
You program it by speaking English into a microphone, by the way,
but for some reason the Professor's astounding acheivments in natural
language processing go completely unmentioned. Aside from that little
glitch, however, the book fairly realistic--the point of the story was
that using a computer to do your homework isn't cheating, because if
you're going to tell a computer how to do something, you have to know
how yourself.
--
Evan A.C. Hunt ev...@sco.COM
The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. uunet!sco!evanh
(408) 425-7222 evanh%sco...@ucscc.ucsc.EDU
James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree
You program it [MINIAC] by speaking English into
a microphone, by the way, but for some reason the
Professor's astounding acheivments in natural language
processing go completely unmentioned. Aside from that
little glitch, however, the book fairly realistic
As far as I can recall, (limited both by the sands of time
and by the vagueness of the original description) the MINIAC
(?) could do no computation at all; it was just an oversized
file cabinet. Joe, Danny, and Irene had to solve every
algebra probelm in their text by hand, then store each
answer into memory, and remember the byte address of the
place they put that particular answer.
Whether they kept a big index on paper was not mentioned.
How this was different from solving all the problems in
their algebra text in advance, writing them down, and
copying off the answers three months later was also not
mentioned.
I always did think Danny Dunn was a dope.
Or maybe I missed the point. Either way, I liked Herbert's
computer better. Uncle Horace sent Herbert a computer that
was surprisingly close to the truth in what it could and
could not do; it played chess and solved arithmetic
problems. Herbert used it to do his arithmetic homework and
then got into trouble when he asked it to write a theme
about why it liked to live in smalltown.
the point of the story was that using a computer to do
your homework isn't cheating, because if you're going to
tell a computer how to do something, you have to know how
yourself.
I liked the gizmo with the crossbar thjat writes two copies
of whatever you happen to be writing at the time. More
practible, it seemed to me, and also more dishonest. But
completely unworkable for D.D., because he went to a school
with only one sixth-grade class, and so he and Joe couldn't
have handed in identical homework, even if they did vary the
handwriting with clever devices.
Followups to this should go elsewhere, but I'm not sure
where, so I sent it to dev-null. Change the newsgroups line
if you follow up.
--
The wicked flee when no one pursueth.
Mark-Jason Dominus ent...@pawl.rpi.EDU uunet!inco!alembic!entropy
Mike Morris
% >>The other that I can think of offhand is that someone has glued a microchip
% >>on the back of an insect (again, a honeybee I think). Was used for tracking
% >>purposes.
% >
% >In another similar project involving bees they glued barcodes to the back of
% >bees to track which bees were in the hive...
%
% Does anyone remember a Danny Dunn (I think it was him -- whoever lived with
% Professor Bullfinch) story in which the Professor designed a tiny dragonfly
% that carried a camera, microphone, etc. and the "driver" was able to
% experience everything the dragonfly experienced? Flew it around, etc....
%
% One of my all-time favorite books and I can't remember the title. Too many
% years gone by, I suppose (I haven't read it since I was nine).
Same here, only my favorite was "Danny Dunn and the homework machine".
I'd love to find a few DD books in the "Friends of the Library" book sale
(10 for .50), or in a old book shop, etc. I've got a neighbor 7-year-old
theat is fascinated by ham radio, computers, hobby electronics, etc.
She doesn't know it, but she's going to get a crystal set kit for her
birthday....
Mike Morris Internet: Mor...@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov
Misslenet: 34.12 N, 118.02 W
#Include quote.cute.standard Bellnet: 818-447-7052
#Include disclaimer.standard Radionet: WA6ILQ
Andrew MacRae
>Same here, only my favorite was "Danny Dunn and the homework machine".
>I'd love to find a few DD books in the "Friends of the Library" book sale
>(10 for .50), or in a old book shop, etc. I've got a neighbor 7-year-old
>theat is fascinated by ham radio, computers, hobby electronics, etc.
>She doesn't know it, but she's going to get a crystal set kit for her
>birthday....
"Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine" was one of my favorite books as a child,
and I am sure that it helped steer me into this profession. I allways
wondered why there was never a television show based on the books. I found
out the answer while watching "The Absent Minded Professor" on the Disney
channel. At the end of the movie they mention that the movie was based on
the "Danny Dunn" books. It seems that the Disney company has long held the
tv and movie rights to the series.
Andrew MacRae
John W. Keating
>%
>% >>The other that I can think of offhand is that someone has glued a microchip
>% >>on the back of an insect (again, a honeybee I think). Was used for tracking
>% >>purposes.
>% >
>% >In another similar project involving bees they glued barcodes to the back of
>% >bees to track which bees were in the hive...
>%
>% Does anyone remember a Danny Dunn (I think it was him -- whoever lived with
>% Professor Bullfinch) story in which the Professor designed a tiny dragonfly
>% that carried a camera, microphone, etc. and the "driver" was able to
>% experience everything the dragonfly experienced? Flew it around, etc....
>%
>% One of my all-time favorite books and I can't remember the title. Too many
>% years gone by, I suppose (I haven't read it since I was nine).
>
>Same here, only my favorite was "Danny Dunn and the homework machine".
>I'd love to find a few DD books in the "Friends of the Library" book sale
>(10 for .50), or in a old book shop, etc. I've got a neighbor 7-year-old
>theat is fascinated by ham radio, computers, hobby electronics, etc.
>She doesn't know it, but she's going to get a crystal set kit for her
>birthday....
>
explored a nearby field. For the life of me, however, I can't remember what
the name of it was...
To get this back (at least partially) to the group's orientation, does
anyone remember the name and author of the book in which a group of kids read
about ENIAC (or some such computer) and decide to build there own "-IAC"?
They used a piano box to hold it in. Input was written on a little card and
slipped into a slot on the side of the "computer." As one of the "operators"
turned a handle on the outside, making lights blink and such, the CPU
(actually another kid) would type out a reply to the input and stick it out
snother slot. Made me want to go out and find an old piano box on the spot,
though my folks wouldn't go for it... :^(
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Ken Hornstein
says:
>
>>% Does anyone remember a Danny Dunn (I think it was him -- whoever lived with
>>% Professor Bullfinch) story in which the Professor designed a tiny dragonfly
>>% that carried a camera, microphone, etc. and the "driver" was able to
>>% experience everything the dragonfly experienced? Flew it around, etc....
>>%
>>% One of my all-time favorite books and I can't remember the title. Too many
>>% years gone by, I suppose (I haven't read it since I was nine).
>>
>>Same here, only my favorite was "Danny Dunn and the homework machine".
>>I'd love to find a few DD books in the "Friends of the Library" book sale
>>(10 for .50), or in a old book shop, etc. I've got a neighbor 7-year-old
>>theat is fascinated by ham radio, computers, hobby electronics, etc.
>>She doesn't know it, but she's going to get a crystal set kit for her
>>birthday....
>>
>My personal favorite was the one in which the whole group of them shrank and
>explored a nearby field. For the life of me, however, I can't remember what
>the name of it was...
>
Just for the record, I believe the title was "Danny Dun and the Smallifying
(sp) Machine"
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ken Hornstein (kxh105@psuvm) | "When in doubt, I whip it out ...". |
+-------------------------------+ - Ted Nugent |
| Sorry, no cheap ASCII +--------------------------------------+
| graphics here .... | Disclaimer: It was Fiend!! |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+