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Article: Dante's inferno. (robot)
- Article from:
- Popular Science
- Article date:
- November 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Bonnier Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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If robots have guardian angels, then Dante II seems to be blessed with several. For seven days, the eight-legged robot crept slowly but surely across the hellish landscape of an active volcanic crater. Its perilous mission: to map its surroundings and analyze the gases that issued from holes in the quaking floor. Pelted by rocks, buffeted by rain and snow, and snared by mud, dauntless Dante II persevered on an assignment that its handlers knew would most likely destroy it.
Dante II's trial by fire and ice was more than a strenuous data-collection excursion. The semiautonomous machine, built by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, demonstrated just how much ...