Machine Wilderness Glossary

acclimation adapting to present environmental conditions

adaptation within-species evolutionary response to a particular often new environment

adaptive radiation occurs in nature where conditions appear to favour unusually high rates of speciation, like oceanic archipelagos in ecology and long term research programmes and budgets in robotics

augmented ecology the study of how nature is going online

algorithmic landscape

allometry size related differences in behaviour or life cycle events, for example battery size and weight are a well-known limiting factors to robotic behaviour
see computational overhang

animal as platform the organism seen as a base for added functionalities
see platform diverse body

background subtraction

behavioural code software encoding robotic behaviour and phenology

behavioural signatures patterns in behaviour of animals in ecological studies collected through remote sensing technologies see libraries of signatures

bionics also known as biomimetics, biognosis or biomimicry is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology
see biorobotics

biorobotics a study of how to make robots that emulate or simulate living biological organisms mechanically or chemically

computational overhang refers to any situation in which new algorithms can suddenly and dramatically exploit existing computational power far more efficiently than before

conspecific / intraspecific

conformance / regulatory

conservation algorithm

conservation drone

convergent evolution

cyberpoaching hunting endangered species through GPS data in online media (Flickr, Instagram) or by hacking GPS based trackers used in scientific research

dark biodiversity a term coined by Nigel Pitman reflecting the problem of dark matter in astrophysics; some landscapes are so vast and biodiverse that they are fundamentally unknowable, organisms live and die at densities below our capacity to research or even see

drive power the energy source or sources for the robot actuators

emergent behaviour a complicated resultant behaviour that emerges from the repeated operation of simple underlying behaviours

epizoic media refers to the rich sensor sets carried by animals that have evolved from basic GPS and data-loggers onwards

evolutionary acceleration where evolutionary transformation rate is increased
see hypermorphosis

evolvability concerning any system — a society or culture, for example, that has evolvable characteristics and the different rates of evolutionary change they contain. For example: the use of tools within a culture may show observable evolvability -from stones to drones- at a timescale at which human physiology has remained nearly the same.

faraday forest data refugia, cryptogeography

farmerless landscape

forward chaining a process in which events or received data are considered by an entity to intelligently adapt its behaviour

prototyping habitat

hypermorphosis

info-chemicals

IoO internet of organisms
see connected ecosystem

kinematics the study of motion, as applied to robots

library of signatures capturing a wide range of phenology of an organism through sensor technology to form a database of behavioural signatures

life-history evolution

machine wilderness

maximum envelope (space), the volume of space encompassing the maximum designed movements of all robot parts including the end-effector, workpiece, and attachments

platform diverse body identity routed across the biosphere, cybersphere, and virtual environments see animal as platform

population enrichment a population is studied before and after addition of individuals

prototype

qualia

robochory the dispersal of plant seeds by machines, both externally or internally by digestion, adapted from zoochory which relates to dispersal by animals

robot Darwinism a term coined by battling robot pioneer Pete Abrahamson, has left the field with only three major robot archetypes:

  1. lifters which had wedged sides and could use forklift-like prongs to flip pure wedges.
  2. spinners which were smooth, circular wedges with blades on their bottom side for disabling and breaking lifters.
  3. pure wedges which could still flip spinners.

semiotics incl alarm calls chemical reception

semiosphere

smart collar next generation GPS trackers for pets, farm animals or wild animals
see behavioural signatures

slow speed control a mode of robot motion control where the velocity of the robot is limited to allow organisms sufficient time either to withdraw the hazardous motion or stop the robot

staged authenticity the staging of naturalistic behaviour to create an impression of authenticity, originally stated by Dean MacCannell in relation to tourism

subsumption architecture a robot architecture that uses a modular, bottom-up design beginning with the least complex behavioural tasks

swarm robotics is to robotics what population ecology is to animals

uncanny valley a hypothesized zone in which humanoid robot behavior and appearance begin to approach that of actual humans, but are still missing vital elements, to the point that these mimicked actions or images cause revulsion

unmanned conservation

wired wilderness

method:

1 try it yourself, hands-on 2 work in situ 3 talk to the specialists and the outsiders