Building a robotic hyena Sponsor: MSU Departments of ECE and Zoology The purpose of this project is to develop a model spotted hyena for use in field experiments in Kenya. To date we have been using the life-size model hyena pictured below (sold as an archery target), which fools living hyenas until they get fairly close to it. However we now need to improve on this by developing a model hyena whose head, ears, and tail move in ways realistic enough to fool living hyenas. The robotic hyena will be used in field experiments that comprise part of the MSU Mara Hyena Project, described at (http://www.hyenas.zoology.msu.edu/) supported by the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. Because the robot will be used under field conditions, it must be transportable from Michigan to Kenya, and it must operate there despite equatorial heat, dust, jarring, and other challenges. Therefore the simpler, lighter, and more robust it is, the better. The contact person regarding how to make the robotic hyena behave in realistic ways is Dr Kay Holekamp in the Department of Zoology at MSU (Holekamp@msu.edu). See a pretty realistic robotic hyena head built by others below :
Hyena Background Sub-Saharan spotted hyena’s have some of the most complex social structures of mammalian carnivores. Hyenas tend to live together in large communities called clans, organized by inherent ranks. The hierarchal structure within a clan is a strict framework that fascinates zoologists all over the world. Dr. Kay Holekamp has been studying the spotted hyena for over two decades, examining the behavioral development associated with their physical attributes. As part of this research, Dr. Holekamp’s team uses a hyena archery target as a decoy to attract hyenas and observe how they behave with the model. Her research team is attempting to document breakthroughs in hyena behavior understanding, and has devised a unique plan to achieve new heights. The MSU Zoology department has enlisted the help of senior electrical engineering students to design a robot that will mimic spotted hyena body language. The objective is for the team to animate the current decoy to portray hyena behaviors and invoke reactions from actual hyenas in the field. |
Project Description |