Eye, robot

Multi-tasking robots capable of stopping what they are doing and responding to events in the corner of their ‘eye’ are being developed in a project involving

.

The project, which began this week, is aimed at developing technologies to create robots with the ability to switch between tasks in the same way as animals and humans.

Researchers at BAE and UK universities including Sheffield, Manchester, and Cambridge are attempting to unravel the mechanisms the vertebrate brain uses to multi-task seemingly effortlessly. This research will be used to build computational models that can control the behaviour of a wide range of robots.

These could include devices for going into dangerous, hostile or inaccessible environments, monitoring the environment and human performance for signs of danger or assisting the disabled, aged or infirm. Each of these tasks calls for a robot that can adapt to and learn from unpredictable circumstances, said Dr Kevin Gurney, the project leader and lecturer in computational neuroscience at Sheffield.