Genghis (robot)
early six legged insect-like robot from the 1970s
Genghis was a six legged insect-like robot that was created by roboticist Rodney Brooks at MIT around 1991. Brooks wanted to solve the problem of how to make robots intelligent and suggested that it is possible to create robots that displayed intelligence by using a "subsumption architecture" which is a type of reactive robotic architecture where a robot can react to the world around them. His paper "Intelligence Without Representation", which is still widely respected in the fields of robotics and Artificial Intelligence, further outlines his theories on this.
Design
The design of the Genghis robot was inspired by insects who have limited brain functions yet possess tremendous functionality. In order to mimic this trait found in insects Brooks "removed all cognition processors from Genghis and left only the sensors and the code/hardware to allow it to walk". This enabled Genghis to link sensation to an action taken where the robot did not have any pre-planned path to follow but took action as each sensor detected an obstacle. With Genghis, Brooks pioneered his "sensation-action theory of intelligence which was to bypass explicit cognition hubs in favor of pairing perception more directly with action".
Genghis was not designed to have a central controller to direct all possible functions in the robot, particularly in the legs. Instead, each leg had its own built-in sensors that would sense the various obstacles in its path. Each leg was programmed with a few basic behaviors and knew how to react under different scenarios based on sensor feedback.
“Genghis (robot)” enters the record as early six legged insect-like robot from the 1970s. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Genghis, robot and early can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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