Paleobionics: Dinosaurs Are Back

What if paleontologists could create robot replicas of dinosaurs to better understand them – and how they moved – and in turn learn more about us?

In this episode, we’re talking about the intersection of paleontology, robotics, and artificial intelligence. That includes paleobionics… an emerging field at Carnegie Mellon University – that uses robotics and soft robotics to help scientists better understand how dinosaurs and other extinct organisms might have moved.  Not only could this lead to new discoveries about dinosaur behavior and evolution, it also could provide new understandings on how we, as humans, move while helping engineers design more agile robots that move better through our world.  We’ll meet some of the scientists building these new robots based on fossil records of extinct organisms such as the pleurocystid, an ancient ancestor of the starfish and sea urchin, and the gorgonopsid, a strange dinosaur that’s part mammal, part reptile. 

And could paleobionic scientists someday build a working, life size Tyrannosaurus Rex?  Let’s find out.  

Joining us are: Dr. Aja Mia Carter, postdoctoral researcher working with Carnegie Mellon University’s Robomechanics Lab; Carmel Majidi, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at CMU; and Aaron Johnson, Associate Professor of mechanical engineering and robotics at CMU and faculty for the University's Robomechanics Lab.