European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 2, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18come in All shapes sizes Isaac Asimov los Angeles times Syndicate he Massachusetts Institute of technology in Cambridge is an important can Ter of advanced robotics. One of the reasons is Rodney a. Brooks an australian born professor of computer Sci Cnoc who is looking at a new Type of robot. Brooks wants to make really Small ones that look nothing like the ones most of us imagine when we think of robots. The kind of robots that have been pictured in science fiction stories Haye always resembled human beings. They have been humanoids artificial human beings. That was indeed the whole rationale for robots in the Days before Miniatt a sized computers were invented a to have mechanical human beings who could do our work for a us. Quot a a a it a a a Quot a a a yet it is easy to argue that human beings arc not a proper Model for robots. Human beings Are All purpose mechanisms with generalized limbs and a highly specialized brain. A human being is designed to do Many things to push a loaded wheelbarrow compose a symphony perform delicate surgery and alphabetize file cards a arid to do them All with the same brain and set of mus Clos. This is indeed a terrible drawback for a human being since the realities of life usually compel a person to spend most of his time teaching his magnificently generalized body How to become specialized. Often he is compelled to do jobs that totally underused his brain and atrophy it. Or he must by desire or necessity use that brain for one purpose and allow hts Muscles to atrophy and his body to grow soft. Almost always he learns to do a few things very Well and remains severely handicapped in other areas. A. T but if we want a mechanical device to do a particular Job Why build a generalized Structure capable of doing a wide variety of jobs it May never be asked to do a specialized Structure for the performance of a special Job would be much More efficient. Thus what we now Call Industrial robots Are computerized machines. The microchip devel oped in the mid-1970s, made it possible to build cheap reliable specialized Industrial robots that took not at All human but Are essentially computerized arms or levers capable of going through a limited variety of motions that enable them to perform specific repetitive tasks. They do this More uniformly and efficiently than a human Arm run by an Over specialized brain could possibly do. An the robots moreover never get tired  v a  naturally such robots Are going to be made More Complex with time capable of varying their work usefully. The drive for greater generality will be irresistible. In fact one can imagine at least two reasons Why there should be. An Effort to make robots humanoid. First there is a vast technology already in place that is designed to fit the human body. Machines can be run in particular ways because the human body can reach and Bend in certain ways because arms and legs and fingers Are of certain sizes and so on. If humanoid robots can be devised they cart use the technology that already exists. We wont have to have two of them a one for. The Hun a and one for the  a humanoid robot is More Likely to be looked upon As a Friend or co worker. This May be a Strong emotional reason for the development of such things. But Broo Quot is of Mit feels there should also and preferably be development in other directions. He feels that a More appropriate Model for robot development might be the insect body which is built altogether differently from our own. Insects Are economical organisms with their functioning built into tiny volumes and in their millions of species they have millions of specializations that suit them to one form of life or another. Why. Not make a flood of tiny robots which i think of As a pro Bettess designed to do specialized jobs 4 la insects Brooks suggests that Smalt robots May be Given jobs such As removing barnacles from the hulls of ships. He sees them conducting explorations on the soil of Mars. He even imagines very Small robots that can be injected into a bloodstream to do surgery from within. I must add a personal note Here i have been writing science fiction stories about robots for 51 years and it is not easy for any scientist to come up with an idea about robots that i Haven to imag ined at some time. A  Scein fiction become reality would be a thrill and a great leap Forward for All. Iii at a glance a a Iraq , �t�blz\�6,a j Meade it it Hamadan. N. A a a Tehran a Bla Fahan Kuwait. Saudi Arabia a Isfahan Ahwaz Badana task Shiraz 2 Sarbaz s 55 Jask a Fri Iran size 636,293 Square Miles slightly larger than Alaska population 51,005,000 1989 estimate main language persian Farsi overview Iran has four. Major land areas a Large Interior plateau that is mainly desert Mountain ranges ringing most of the plateau a coastal area along the Caspian sea which is the main agricultural and most populated area and a Plain North of the persian Gulf along the iraqi Border that holds Rich Petroleum deposits the areas history dates Back almost 5,000 years and includes the great persian Empire. It was invaded Many times by foreigners including in the 600s by Muslim arabs who converted the area to the islamic Faith in 1979 a revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew Iran a King and Costa wished an islamic Republic is a fact Iran has Long been famous for its. Architecture painting poetry and crafts especially jewelry and hand Woven persian  questions a a where is the Best place to see wild turkeys on the Wing and How were earthbound Domestic turkeys bred from them a a the american wild Turkey is found in All states except Alaska according to Mary Kennemer information specialist with the National wild Turkey federation a conservation organization in Edgefield  however while these Are the same flying turkeys the european settlers i found they Are not the ones used commercially. The settlers also brought Domestic turkeys of mexican ancestry with them from Europe and it is these turkeys Distant cousins of the wild Turkey,1 that Are the basis of the modern commercial Breed. The wild Turkey nearly disappeared Kennemer says but  been brought Back and introduced in states that never had them before such As California Wyoming and Hawaii. There is now such a Large population that Spring Hunting seasons Are conducted in Allstate except Alaska. Q a is there any truth to the rhyme a red sky at morning sailors take warning red sky at night sailors Delight a a yes says Fred Gadomski a meteorologist at Pennsylvania state University. But he says you must a look at the part of the sky where the Sun Isnit not into the Sunset but to the  both Sunrise and Sunset Are Reddish As a Rule because of what happens to the Light of the Sun As it goes through the atmosphere at a Low Angle. But if the sky is red in the opposite direction some rough forecasts can be made for weather ,. Patterns that move from West to East. The idea is that sunlight interacting with additional water vapor in the part of the sky away from the Sun leads to red and Orange Ash hues Gadomski says a so a red sky in the West in the morning Means a storm system creating the hues is moving your Way. If it is Ted at night looking off to the East the storm system or moisture to the East is moving away front you Quot new York times to plus sunday