UC offers summer course on animal-inspired robotics

The student at William Mason High School in Mason, Ohio, enrolled in the University of Cincinnati’s Biology Meets Engineering course, which gives students both at UC and Cincinnati-area high schools a chance to learn about both disciplines while they work on animal-inspired robotics projects.

The UC creators of Biology Meets Engineering are wrapping up a three-year National Science Foundation grant to develop and demonstrate a new curriculum drawing from both fields in UC’s College of Arts and Sciences and its College of Engineering and Applied Science. UC students take the class for course credit while faculty will offer a three-week course in June to introduce the concept to high school students.

“I feel like I should get to know more about technology, not just biology. That’s why I took this course as an introduction to engineering,” Kana said.

The course offers unique cross-training to help prepare students to pursue careers in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering or math.

“I think it’s a good example of how the two fields inform each other,” said UC professor Stephanie Rollmann, the principal investigator for the national grant.

UC assistant professor Dieter Vanderelst studies the extraordinary ability of bats to detect objects using sonar from their high-pitched calls. His research in 2019 demonstrated how big-eared bats’ sonar could thwart the camouflage of insects by hiding on leaves in the rainforest canopy.

For the Biology Meets Engineering class, Vanderelst uses 3D-printed dragonfly models to demonstrate how robots likewise can discern an insect from background foliage, in this case a leaf made of construction paper.

“Students will use handheld sonar devices to see if they can develop a strategy to identify the dragonfly from the background leaf,” he said. “They will be a bat for a few hours.”

The bats approach potential prey at an angle that allows their sonar to create a reflection. Vanderelst said a similar strategy should help students discern the plastic dragonfly from the background.

Vanderelst said some flowers have evolved specially shaped flowers that create a unique sonar signature to help nectar-loving bats find them during their nightly forays.

Students studied animal senses and how to apply them to robotic sensors using wheeled robots. During another exercise, UC alumnus and University of Akron biologist Henry Astley brought in programmable robotic snakes to understand the different ways snakes move.

Rollmann said there hasn’t been a better time to study biology.

“There are so many exciting innovations occurring in biology, from genetics to ecology and career options from industry to academia to medicine,” she said.

This year the program is offering paid internships to students.

The course appeals to students who appreciate robotics and animals — or both in Nikhil Gunda’s case. The senior at William Mason High School said he plans to study engineering in college. But he is equally fascinated by animals and biology.

“Animals have been a passion of mine since I was a child. My parents bought a membership to the Cincinnati Zoo so I can go all the time,” he said. “At this point, I probably know more about the different ways that snakes move than about programming a robotic snake.”

Featured image at top: Students in UC's Biology Meets Engineering class take part in an exercise on snake-inspired robotics. Another class begins in June. Photo/Michael Miller