雅思阅读材料之科技篇：科技与自然_雅思英语阅读

雅思阅读材料之科技篇：科技与自然

　　He hopes that the database will store more than just blueprints for biological mechanisms that can be replicated using technology. Biomimetics can help with software, as well as hardware, as the robolobster built by Dr Ayers demonstrates. Its physical design and control systems are both biologically inspired. Most current robots, in contrast, are deterministically programmed. When building a robot, the designers must anticipate every contingency of the robots environment and tell it how to respond in each case. Animal models, however, provide a plethora of proven solutions to real-world problems that could be useful in all sorts of applications. The set of behavioural acts that a lobster goes through when searching for food is exactly what one would want a robot to do to search for underwater mines, says Dr Ayers. It took nature millions of years of trial and error to evolve these behaviours, he says, so it would be silly not to take advantage of them.

　　Although Dr Vincents database will not be capable of providing such specific results as control algorithms, it could help to identify natural systems and behaviours that might be useful to engineers. But it is still early days. So far the database contains only 2,500 patents. To make it really useful, Dr Vincent wants to collect ten times as many, a task for which he intends to ask the online community for help. Building a repository of natures cleverest designs, he hopes, will eventually make it easier and quicker for engineers to steal and reuse them.