Fembot
The Sage Grouse could at the very least be described as elaborate. Native to the sage grasslands of the United States, they are famous for the male’s bombastic mating ritual, and for inhabiting land that is being fragmented by oil and gas activity, oil and gas development, and invaded by cheatgrass. Biologist Gail Patricelli wants to better understand what type of habitat in which the Sage Grouse feels most comfortable reproducing, which led her to invent the Fembot, a once-taxidermied female grouse roboticized into what is essentially a sex robot. During courtships, males preen their feathers, warble, and, most famously, inflate air sacs above their lungs that sound almost like a cartoon jello wobble when flounced in front of the comparatively drab and petite females. Fembot navigates on a track and Patricelli manipulates the Fembot almost as one would a model train with mounted cameras on wheels, trailing behind the fembot to record interactions. Patricelli places the Fembot in different environments, seeing which habitat elicits the best reaction from the male grouses. Monitoring this kind of behaviour is important because the Sage Grouse is seeing a dramatic decline in numbers, dropping from a population of approximately 16 million to 200,000 in the past couple hundred years; getting those numbers up is vital to their survival. A better understanding of habitat preferences in what little land is left to preserve creates a stronger case for land preservation. Now looking at reproduction doesn’t necessarily solve the root issues that have and are causing a decline in grouse, which are primarily habitat loss and fragmentation, but it is essential for prioritizing sensitive habitat to conserve.
Simon, Matt. “Why Scientists Turned This Taxidermy Bird Into a Robot.” Wired, June 1, 2018. https://www.wired.com/story/why-scientists-turned-this-taxidermy-bird-into-a-robot/.
Bartels, Meghan. “Is That a Robo-Bird or Real Lady? For Male Sage-Grouse, Either Will Do.” Audubon Society, October 24, 2017. https://www.audubon.org/news/is-robo-bird-or-real-lady-male-sage-grouse-either-will-do.
For an early publication showcasing this work, please see Grayson, Brittany. “4 Robots That Are Saving the World.” (2007).
Categories
Artificial Life, Ecological Monitoring, Monitoring
More Ideas
Air Pollution Robot
The dangers of air pollution to human health are well documented, though the traditional methodology of collecting and reporting on sample lags behind the need to keep abreast and regulate air pollution in a meaningful amount of time. The use of drones and robots have been identified by researchers as resources that can be tweaked […]
Artificial Life, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Industry/Natural Commodities, Lifestyle, Monitoring
Telematic Rivers
Erica Kermani’s artwork seeks to answer a central question: if rivers were seeing an equal, living entity, would humans take issues like climate change threatening them more seriously? In his year-long art exhibition in 2017, Kermani, in collaboration with Diana Salcedo & Jeana Chesnik, created a new forum of interaction between humans and rivers to […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies
Co-occupied Boundaries
Art is easily found in nature but rarely is what considered art today inherently natural. The concept of co-occupied mediums that serve to be both functional for nature and aesthetically pleasing to people is being actively explored by Asya Ilgun and Phil Ayres, from the CITAstudio at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies