XPost: alt.fan.tolkien, rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.books.cs-lewis   
   From: derek@pointerstop.ca   
      
   Steve Morrison wrote:   
      
   > Derek Broughton wrote:   
   >> Öjevind Lång wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> LOL. Of course, science fiction films and serials are bung full of   
   >>> pseudo-science and things which may not be impossible as such but simply   
   >>> don't make any sense. To take one example, still from "Star Wars", one   
   >>> could of course construct robots that walk on legs instead of rolling on   
   >>> wheels; it is just very hard to understand why anyone would do anything   
   >>> so impractical.   
   >>   
   >> Really?  Then why hasn't any significant land-based lifeform evolved   
   >> wheels?   
   >>   
   >> Legs are far more practical than wheels unless you can guarantee good   
   >> roads   
   >> and ramps.  Not a good idea for a fighting robot (though they had anti-   
   >> gravity devices, so the robots shouldn't need either).   
   >>   
   >> In my experience, robot designers start with plans for legged devices -   
   >> and then use wheels when they decide they're just too hard.   
   >   
   > Possibly because of the lack of roads, as this article suggests:   
   >   
   > http://preview.tinyurl.com/3qstcv   
      
   Didn't I just say that?  But thanks for the link, anyway.  I weaseled a bit   
   with "significant land-based lifeform", because I was _fairly_ sure there   
   were some unicellular organisms, and legs vs. wheels isn't even an issue in   
   an aquatic environment.  The thought of the chance of meeting a _wheeled_   
   Moose on the highway sometime in the future is really scary.  Me hopes we'll   
   have scrapped roads before evolution gets that far...   
      
   fwiw, I heard a talk by a robotics engineer in which he described   
   significant advances in robotic locomotion by working on the principle that   
   walking is merely controlled falling.  I can't say for sure that it was this   
   one: http://www.paulgraham.com/anybots.html   
   --   
   derek   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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