科技动态:引导鱼群脱离危险的机器鱼

It's an aquatic¹ version of follow the leader. Dr.Manrizio Porfiri of NYU's Polytechnic² Institute has combined his love for mathematics and animals to invent a robot that he says would one day be able to lead schools of fish away from danger.

这是水下版本的“追随领导者”。纽约大学理工学院的Manrizio Porfiri博士把他对机械的热情全部投入到了动物身上，并发明了一款机器，将来能领导鱼群远离危险。

Porfiri says the hardest part of his research has been to find out what the qualities of a leader are through the eyes of fish. But he thinks as is the case with most animals, it basically comes down to sex.

Porfiri表示这项发明最难的地方是如何找出鱼类眼中的领导者特质。他联想到了其他动物，大多是通过性别来吸引其他个体的。

"If you take out a propeller³ and you put it into the water, it may remain as fast as the fish but the fish may not like it. If you can make something that swim like a fish, the fish may perceive it as a mate even if it looks different. "

“如果把螺旋桨放入水中，虽然它能和鱼类跑得一样快，但鱼类不会喜欢它。如果你能发明一种机器游起来像鱼一样，虽然长相不同，但鱼群能够接纳它。”

Porfiri's team is developing a prototype and testing it out with small schools of fish in his lab. They are fine tuning⁴ the robot to mimic⁵ the actions of a leader, programming it to swim fast and erratically⁶ to gain attention, the goal, infiltrate⁷ the school and take it over.

Porfiri的研究小组正在实验室中用发明的机器原型和小群鱼群做测试。他们操纵机器模仿鱼群领导者的样子，游得更快，不时转弯，吸引鱼群注意力，融入鱼群并最终成为鱼群领导者。

"So through mathematics we should be able to gain an understanding of how many robotic fish are needed for drive a group of fish over certain size, and knows them, we can coordinate⁸ these fish, so we can have these multi-robotic fish that interact with each other. "

“除了计算数据，我们还要了解鱼群的大小，以决定由多少机器鱼引导鱼群，这样才能整合鱼群，使机器鱼和鱼群互相影响。”

Porfiri says he wants to programme his robot fish to work autonomously⁹ without human control. He envisions his robot fish acting¹⁰ like sheep-dogs under water, keeping schools of fish out of danger areas like the oil polluted waters of the Gulf¹¹ of Mexico, or protecting them from hydro-electric turbines.

Porfiri表示，希望机器鱼最终能够无人驾驶，自动引导鱼群。他想象这些机器鱼能变成水下牧羊犬，管理鱼群远离危险区域，如墨西哥湾石油污染区，或是躲避水电涡轮机。

"Guide a group of fish from a region which is risky¹², there is a pollutant¹³ you want to drive them somewhere else. There is a migration¹⁴ that you don't like to be somewhere because it's in a 3M bad area, drive them somewhere else. There is power plant and you want to bypass the power plant, it could be risky, the fish may die sucking to the turbines, so how about making a guiding system, a bypass system that uses these robots."

“鱼群要远离危险区域，污染区域。也要离开其他鱼群栖息地。还有发电厂，鱼群也要远离发电厂，因为那附近很危险，鱼有可能被吸入涡轮机，为什么不建立一个引导机制，于是就有了机器鱼引导机制。”

Eventually Porfiri says he wants to upgrade his robot fish and fit them with processors and sensors¹⁵ giving them the ability, not just to lead the school but to learn how to interact with other creatures underwater.

最后，Porfiri表示，他们想将处理器和传感器安装到机器鱼上，使机器鱼不仅能领导鱼群，并且能学会如何与水下的其他生物和平共处。

Ben Gruber Reuters.

Ben Gruber报道，路透社消息。

aquatic adj. 水生的，水栖的

erratically adv. 不定地，不规律地

evision v. 想象；预想

1 aquatic   

adj.水生的，水栖的

参考例句：

• Aquatic sports include swimming and rowing.水上运动包括游泳和划船。
• We visited an aquatic city in Italy.我们在意大利访问过一个水上城市。

2 polytechnic   

adj.各种工艺的，综合技术的；n.工艺(专科)学校；理工(专科)学校

参考例句：

• She was trained as a teacher at Manchester Polytechnic.她在曼彻斯特工艺专科学校就读，准备毕业后做老师。
• When he was 17,Einstein entered the Polytechnic Zurich,Switzerland,where he studied mathematics and physics.17岁时，爱因斯坦进入了瑞士苏黎士的专科学院，学习数学和物理学。

3 propeller   

n.螺旋桨，推进器

参考例句：

• The propeller started to spin around.螺旋桨开始飞快地旋转起来。
• A rope jammed the boat's propeller.一根绳子卡住了船的螺旋桨。

4 tuning   

n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• They are tuning up a plane on the flight line. 他们正在机场的飞机跑道上调试一架飞机。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The orchestra are tuning up. 管弦乐队在定弦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

6 erratically   

adv.不规律地，不定地

参考例句：

• Police stopped him for driving erratically. 警察因其驾驶不循规则而把他拦下了。 来自辞典例句
• Magnetitite-bearing plugs are found erratically from the base of the Critical Zone. 含磁铁岩的岩栓不规则地分布于关键带的基底以上。 来自辞典例句

7 infiltrate   

vt./vi.渗入，透过；浸润

参考例句：

• The teacher tried to infiltrate her ideas into the children's minds.老师设法把她的思想渗透到孩子们的心中。
• It can infiltrate as much as 100 kilometers into enemy territory at night.可以在夜间深入敌领土100千米。

8 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

9 autonomously   

adv. 自律地，自治地

参考例句：

• To learn autonomously in the network environment is totally new to students. 基于网络环境下的自主学习对学生来说，是一种全新的学习方式。
• The QC-RS can operate autonomously or by remote control. QC-RS能实现自动操作或通过遥控来操作。

10 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

11 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

12 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

13 pollutant   

n.污染物质，散布污染物质者

参考例句：

• Coal itself is a heavy pollutant.煤本身就是一种严重的污染物。
• Carbon dioxide may not be a typical air pollutant.二氧化碳可能不是一种典型的污染物。

14 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

15 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句