VOA常速英语2014--Cheetah's Tail Inspires Model for Robot's Stability 猎豹尾巴启发机器人设计

 

Cheetah¹'s Tail Inspires Model for Robot's Stability 猎豹尾巴启发机器人设计 

If you speed your bicycle through a curve, you have to lean to the inner side in order to keep your balance. Many fast moving animals do the same, often with additional help from their tails. A young scientist from South Africa successfully employed that concept to stabilize² a fast-moving robotic vehicle.

你在骑脚踏车的时候，如果想转弯，必须让身体向转弯的方向倾斜，才能保持平衡。许多快速奔跑的动物也是这样做的。但是动物常常可以用尾巴来帮忙。南非的一位年轻科学家成功的使用了动物尾巴的平衡理念，来稳定迅速移动的机器人。请看美国之音记者普提克的报道。

Many animals use their tails to maintain stability when they run. The fastest land animal, the African cheetah, uses it even while braking.

 许多动物在奔跑的时候用尾巴来保持平衡。陆地上跑得最快的动物非洲猎豹甚至在突然停止奔跑时也使用尾巴。

A young scientist at the University of Cape³ Town in South Africa, Amir Patel, decided⁴ to see whether the same principle could be applied⁵ to vehicles.

 南非开普敦大学的青年科学家帕泰尔决定尝试车辆能否应用同样的原则。

“To investigate the effect that a swinging - or accelerating and swinging - tail has during a turn, you will see that there is a reactive torque on the rigid⁶ body, which would counter that toppling moment and thus keep the body in a straight line," said Patel.

 帕泰尔说：“为了测试一条在加速时左右摇摆的尾巴在转弯时的作用，你会看到，本来僵硬的身体出现一股扭矩，抵消把物体弄翻的力量。因此物体就可以直线前进。”

Patel designed a fast moving, remote-controlled vehicle with a removable tail that can swing from one side to the other.

  帕泰尔设计了一种快速移动的遥控车，它有一条可以摘下来的尾巴。可以左右摇摆。

While cornering at high speed without the tail, the vehicle would lose balance and tip over. Adding the tail with a counterbalance on its end improved the vehicle’s stability.

 机器人高速行驶时如果转弯，会失去平衡翻车。可是在车尾部加上这条尾巴以后，抵消了不平衡力，车子的平衡改善了。

Patel believes the same principle could be applied to sports cars or vehicles for fast-response rescue teams. “We hope to use this application on high-speed, search-and-rescue applications. So where a robot needs to enter a time-critical situation and needs to be able to maneuver⁷, we can use the tail to perform these rapid maneuvers,” he said.

 帕泰尔认为，同样的原理可以应用到跑车和快速反应救援队的车辆上。帕泰尔说：“我们希望，把这种技术用在高速行驶的搜救车上。在机器人需要进入关键时刻的时候，需要做各种复杂的动作。我们可以用一条尾巴来平衡这些快速动作。”

 

Patel said studying how animals perform in different situations can be converted to mathematical models that may show how robots would do under similar circumstances.

帕泰尔说，研究动物在不同情况下的动作，然后把它变成数学模式，这些模式能显示机器人在类似情形下应该怎么做。

1 cheetah   

n.(动物)猎豹

参考例句：

• The cheetah is generally credited as the world's fastest animal.猎豹被公认是世界上跑得最快的动物。
• The distribution of the cheetah ranges from Africa to Central Asia.印度豹的足迹遍及从非洲到中亚的广大地区。

2 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

3 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

7 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。