There's a Rat in Your Drainpipe
What's it a-gonna do? Save your life after an earthquake? Maybe, maybe not - maybe it has other ambitions that are not all altruistic
There’s a new robotic rat on the block. I’m going to call him Roland Robrat in honour of a much loved British puppet star. Yes, Roland Rat.
The latest robot rat is the creation (invention?) of a team at the Beijing Institute of Technology led by Professr Shi Qing and researchers at Tsinghua University.
Puppet Roland was cool.
Really cool.
Uncool
But this new robot rat looks a bit more clinical, more intent and lacking fun. Uncool.
I’ll grant that he’s a nifty looking creature although I’m not sure what purpose his tail serves. That set me wondering. I mean, why DO rats have tails? Well the answer is ‘for heat control and balance’.
I don’t see those as issues for Roland Robrat but I could be wrong (for what it’s worth there are two species of tailless rats).
So why the tail on a robotic rat?
Maybe it really is something to do with heat control, like being uncool, man?
Disaster rescue
The article in the IEEE Transactions on Robotics suggests that
the rat could be used for post-disaster rescue…the rat can squeeze through narrow spaces, climb slopes, get over obstacles and walk on snow, adding that it could be used to carry medical supplies or emergency rations to places rescuers cannot reach, for example to people trapped under rubble after an earthquake.
Why? I mean how many earthquakes do we have? Well I was recently in New Zealand (Pacific Rim of Fire) and they have an average of 14,000 tremors a year, and the peak year delivered 34,000.
Just today, April 22, 2022 there were:
- 1 quake above magnitude 4
- 2 quakes between magnitude 3 and 4
- 19 quakes between magnitude 2 and 3
- 21 quakes below magnitude 2 that people normally don’t feel.
That’s a lot of earthquakes in a day (source). But no building collapses or deaths. But I agree, there could be a practical use there for a robot rat.
And it could walk on snow? The rat will be skiing next!
Well, I’ve got news for him. Roland Rat was skiing with his pals in 1983.
Production in the millions — why?
You can bet that soon there will be millions of Robrats pouring off Chinese production lines.
But I don’t think the main market will be for earthquake rescue. No.
Yes, as the video caption says, A Robotic Rat that Does it All.
Think aerial drones and their success in warfare. Surveillance, kamikaze and more.
I think Roland Robrat will be weaponized. By the million.
Four-legged drone
The terrestrial drone. He’ll be wearing a camo skin and carrying surveillance equipment or explosives, crawling through tunnels and pipework.
The tests indicated that Roland Robrat (they call it SQuRo — huh?) can carry 200 gms across a field with inclines of 20 degrees.
Okay, it’s not steep enough to get up my trouser leg standing up, but when I’m asleep? 200 grams of C-4 in my action station would certainly spoil my sleep.
And that’s just the prototype.
Imagine them swarming over a tank or along a trench in the hundreds, into defence complexes. Even down the barrel of a tank. Being dropped by the hundred from planes. Parachuting?
The future
China has the PLA, a huge standing armed forces(human) of 2,200,000 active personnel (Wikipedia).
Add to that 100 million Robot Rolands in the reserves and…
…‘Houston, we have a problem’
No, this little tale here really isn’t in homage to the real Roland Rat.
I see another rat race to the bottom.
OMG, one of them coming out of the toilet...
Or in mi kitchen, as UB40 sang...
The future is fearful, the future is here...
***
Canonical: This story was originally published in Medium on 13 May 2022. [edited and UB40 rat video added]
About the Creator
James Marinero
I live on a boat and write as I sail slowly around the world. Follow me for a varied story diet: true stories, humor, tech, AI, travel, geopolitics and more. I also write techno thrillers, with six to my name. More of my stories on Medium
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