On his book How to Walk on Water and Climb up Walls: Animal Movement and the Robots of the Future
Cover Interview of March 27, 2019
In a nutshell
From cave paintings to the anatomical sketches of Leonardo
da Vinci, the movement of animals has long fascinated people. Now there is an explosion
of new interest and understanding in animal motion. Recent technological
developments and the combined interest of computer scientists, physicists, and engineers
are enabling us to find new ways to understand how animals can move with such
grace and beauty. Understanding how animals move can lead to the development of
new kinds of robots and devices, such as crash-resistant drones, robots that
walk on water, and exoskeletons that improve the efficiency of walking.
If you have enjoyed watching animals on the Discovery
channel, this book will provide a conversational explanation of the things that
you see in the show. In the book, I explain the physical principles at
work—without it feeling like a full college course.
The dominant premise in evolution and economics is that a person is being loyal to natural law if he or she attends to self’s interest and welfare before being concerned with the needs and demands of family or community. The public does not realize that this statement is not an established scientific principle but an ethical preference. Nonetheless, this belief has created a moral confusion among North Americans and Europeans because the evolution of our species was accompanied by the disposition to worry about kin and the collectives to which one belongs.Jerome Kagan, Interview of September 17, 2009
[T]he Holocaust transformed our whole way of thinking about war and heroism. War is no longer a proving ground for heroism in the same way it used to be. Instead, war now is something that we must avoid at all costs—because genocides often take place under the cover of war. We are no longer all potential soldiers (though we are that too), but we are all potential victims of the traumas war creates. This, at least, is one important development in the way Western populations envision war, even if it does not always predominate in the thinking of our political leaders.Carolyn J. Dean, Interview of February 01, 2011
In a nutshell
From cave paintings to the anatomical sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, the movement of animals has long fascinated people. Now there is an explosion of new interest and understanding in animal motion. Recent technological developments and the combined interest of computer scientists, physicists, and engineers are enabling us to find new ways to understand how animals can move with such grace and beauty. Understanding how animals move can lead to the development of new kinds of robots and devices, such as crash-resistant drones, robots that walk on water, and exoskeletons that improve the efficiency of walking.
If you have enjoyed watching animals on the Discovery channel, this book will provide a conversational explanation of the things that you see in the show. In the book, I explain the physical principles at work—without it feeling like a full college course.