Translating a Scholarly Article in Your Field of Study for a Public Audience

ENGH 302 Discipline Project Fall 2018

Robat, the self-driving bat-like robot

Replicating the biological abilities of bats through robotics could be revolutionary in several different

fields and give insight to the future of robotic automation.

Meet Robat, the self-driving sightless robot.

Itamar Eliakim, Zahi Cohen, Gabor Kosa, Yossi Yovel

By John Doe

Oct. 8, 2018

PARA 1 Many people are wondering what impacts automation will have on everyday life and

what the job markets will look like in the near future. Artificial intelligence in robots often

invokes images of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, but there are many beneficial and favorable

uses for automated robots. Several research projects are working on advancing this field of

robotics.

Robat is one of them.

PARA 2 Researchers from Tel Aviv University in Israel have successfully created an

autonomous robot that travels through a novel environment using echolocation. This detailed

study, published in PLOS Computational Biology, gives insight into the ability to replicate a

bat’s biological abilities with innovative technology. This robot has been suitably dubbed

“Robat.”

PARA 3 Previously, autonomous robots, robots free of any human operator, needed

sophisticated systems of cameras and other visual inputs to navigate an environment. Most

animals operate in a similar way, depending largely on visual senses to track prey, locate

predators, and traverse surroundings.

PARA 4 Bats on the other hand, have a different form of obtaining information about their

environment. Although bats have eyes, they rely primarily on a form of sensory input called

echolocation to learn what is happening around them. Echolocation is the ability to locate objects

by emitting a sound and interpreting the reflections of the sound off those objects.

PARA 5 Robat is the first autonomous robot to focus on a biological approach, imitating the

abilities of bats. Using a single sonar emitter and two ear-like receivers, Robat can map an

environment the same way bats do. This new technology, coupled with future innovations in

robotics and artificial intelligence, could lead to advancements in several fields.

PARA 6 Travelling autonomously through new environments is challenging for most robots.

Robat’s configuration of emitters and receivers allows the robot to create representations of

objects based on distance and the type of material. The ability to identify and recognize

surroundings allows Robat to avoid obstacles and navigate on its own without needing prior

information of the area in which it is interacting.

PARA 7 While far from the appearance of a bat, Robat operates similarly. The researchers from

Tel Aviv University, including engineering and zoology students, wanted to mimic a bat’s

biological use of echolocation. They accomplished this by using up to three wide-band signals, to

give a 180 degree “view” of the environment. Being 60 degrees, this wide-band signal differs

from other echolocating robots that used many narrow ones.

Robat’s 3 wide-band sensors at work. Each emit a signal at 60

degrees, allowing a full 180 degree “view” of the environment.

Itamar Eliakim, Zahi Cohen, Gabor Kosa, Yossi Yovel

PARA 8 Itamar Eliakim, a mechanical engineering graduate student at Tel Aviv University,

states, “the bat’s wide-band signals provide ample spatial information allowing it to localize

multiple reflectors within a single beam.” Imagine when a bat chirps and sends out a signal for

echolocating. This pulse is very wide and allows the bat to “see” much of its surroundings. The

bat doesn’t just see one leaf of a tree, but all the branches, bugs, and berries nearby. This wide-

band approach is simpler than using many narrow-bands and much closer to how a bat’s

biological echolocation works.

PARA 9 Although Robat mimics a bat’s ability to map an environment, it lacks the winged

mammal’s speed and mobility. In the study, Eliakim writes that Robat moved, “emitting

echolocation signals every 0.5m [half a meter] thus mimicking a bat flying at 5m/s [5 meters per

second] while emitting a signal every 100ms [100 milliseconds]...” While bats fly at a spry

average of 5 meters per second, Robat could only move about 1 meter per minute, stopping for

30 seconds every half-meter to scan the area. There is much room for improvement in this area

and the researchers acknowledge this. With new design iterations, advances in the synthesis of

the data recorded by Robat, and other advancements in autonomous robotics, the speed of

mapping and moving through an area will increase as well.

The map that Robat is able to make of the environment. Robat was able to correctly determine plants and passable

objects from impassable ones in 70% of instances. Itamar Eliakim Zahi Cohen Gabor Kosa Yossi Yovel

PARA 10 Robat isn’t easy to hinder when it’s moving about. Putting it in a corner won’t stop it.

Robat was able to tell whether the objects blocking its path were plants, which it could drive

through, or something impassable. This was successful approximately 70% of the time,

according to the study. Robat could also move around an object in its way and check to see if the

object moved out of its path to continue in the original direction. This ability to self-correct is a

glimpse into future artificial intelligence and robotics projects.

PARA 11 The recent touch-and-go rescue operation of 12 young Thai soccer players could have

benefited from robots like Robat. The ability to navigate through conditions with little to no

visibility is a unique trait that most robots do not have.

PARA 12 More research is needed in developing echolocating robots like Robat. This research

will improve the speed at which these robots move through an environment and the amount of

data they can collect. The use of echolocation as a means of mapping an environment has many

potential uses in areas like research and discovery, search and rescue, and military applications.

Future iterations of Robat could be used to save victims of natural disasters or those trapped in

fires, scan deep underwater trenches, or detect explosives that are hidden out of view.

PARA 13 Autonomous robotics and artificial intelligence are both hot button issues. With

personalities in the tech world spouting a possible end to mankind due to AI, and the

skyrocketing dependence of everyday life on technology, studies like these are great

conversational pieces and hints at the upcoming landscape of technology.

Reflective Analysis

The audience of the scholarly article and my article are very different. The scholarly article was

written for those in the robotics and engineering field. The language and content make this clear.

I am a student translating this article for a general audience who are not engineers or scientists.

Structure

This scholarly article is long and data heavy. I tried to synthesize the main points of the article to

provide something more entertaining for a general audience. Detailing the most interesting points

helped keep my article concise and on point. I focused heavily on the abilities of Robat and how

it was different from similar robots. I touched on artificial intelligence and automation in order to

captivate a reader and give unity to the introduction and conclusion.

Language

The language in the scholarly article was more technical than a general audience would likely

understand. I used comparisons to help readers understand the reasons for the use of wide-band

emitters and dual receivers and how this provided more information than narrow-band

techniques. The scholarly article had many uses of language from other studies or acronyms that

I chose to omit to keep this article concise and easy to follow.

Reference Conventions

The scholarly article uses footnotes throughout in reference to other studies. This is a way to

credit previous researchers and to validate as well as differentiate their work. This is a common

practice in the science and engineering discipline. I used hyperlinks to reference the scholarly

study. This is the usual convention for the genre. I used quotes from the author of the study to

convey his tone and give the reader an insight into the author’s voice. This helps relate my

writing with the original.

Purpose

The purpose of writing a popular audience article on this topic is to allow a non-technical

audience to understand some of the innovations in the engineering and robotics field. The

technology that the researchers at Tel Aviv University are working on may benefit society in

different areas mentioned in the last paragraph of the article. Artificial intelligence and

automation are great conversational topics that will get a mainstream audience interested in this

scholarly study.