Robots spied on penguins
Scientists have created robots that look like penguins. This helped the scientists observe penguins in Antarctica.
Antarctica is at the bottom of the map.
The robots also helped people make a film of the penguins.
One robot looked like a baby penguin. The real penguins let the fake baby stay in their group.
Emperor penguins are very shy. When scientists go near emperors, these penguins normally back away. Their heart beats faster. That's not what the scientists wanted. They wanted to check their heart rate and collect other information about the penguins.
One robot looked like a baby penguin. The real penguins let the fake baby stay in their group.
Emperor penguins are very shy. When scientists go near emperors, these penguins normally back away. Their heart beats faster. That's not what the scientists wanted. They wanted to check their heart rate and collect other information about the penguins.
emperor penguins and their chicks
So scientists decided to create a remote-control wheeled robot. We also call this a 'rover'.
While scientists watched 200 metres away, they drove the rover up to the penguins. The penguins didn't scamper away. They even allowed it to snuggle up to them and they sang to it. It sounded like a trumpet. The adult penguins might have been listening for a reply. But the scientists hadn't made the rover able to make a sound.
There's a reason scientists want to use rovers. Some worry that just by coming close to some shy animals they change their behaviour. That can change the results of the scientists' work.
While scientists watched 200 metres away, they drove the rover up to the penguins. The penguins didn't scamper away. They even allowed it to snuggle up to them and they sang to it. It sounded like a trumpet. The adult penguins might have been listening for a reply. But the scientists hadn't made the rover able to make a sound.
There's a reason scientists want to use rovers. Some worry that just by coming close to some shy animals they change their behaviour. That can change the results of the scientists' work.
More spies
Scientists also used a rover to spy on king penguins and elephant seals.
This rover did not look like a penguin because king penguins and elephant seals don't flee from strangers. The king penguins attacked the small rover with their beaks, unless it stayed still. The attacks didn't matter because the rover got close enough to collect information. The large elephant seals didn't move when the rover zipped by and around them.
Fifty spy cameras
The people who made the film used fifty spy cameras to film the penguins.
Ten of the cameras were hidden in “animatronic” robots. They looked and moved like penguins. Animatronic is made up of two words,"animated" and "electronic". Other cameras were hidden in fake eggs that looked so real that some adult penguins tried to hatch them and predators tried to steal them away.
Ten of the cameras were hidden in “animatronic” robots. They looked and moved like penguins. Animatronic is made up of two words,"animated" and "electronic". Other cameras were hidden in fake eggs that looked so real that some adult penguins tried to hatch them and predators tried to steal them away.
A great success
Using the robots and spy cameras, the scientists were able to collect five times more information than they could have collected on their own.