This Reminds Me Of the Seven Dwarfs.... (Score 1)

I started a Cybernetics degree at Reading University about 7 years ago. At the time they had just been featured on TV demonstrating their amazing set of 7 robots (named after a certain set of Dwarfs immortalised by Disney) which SIMULATED the behaviour of sand wasps. Wow I mean they could simulate insect behaviours - incredible! This must have been a huge breakthrough right? Erm....no. In one of the lab experiments we had to re-program portions of their behaviour. The object avoidance code consisted of (it wasn't C, but this is the equivalent):

while(1)
{
MoveForward();

while(Sensors()==OBJECT_AHEAD)
TurnRight();
}

The code to "follow" another "sand wasp" (they all had beacons on the backs of them) was something like the following:

while(1)
{
bool bNeedToDriveLeftWheel=false;
bool bNeedToDriveRightWheel=false;

if(BeaconPickedUpByRightSensor())
bNeedToDriveLeftWheel=true;

if(BeaconPickedUpByLeftSensor())
bNeedToDriveRightWheel=true;

if(bNeedToDriveLeftWheel || bNeedToDriveRightWheel)
MoveSandFly(bNeedToDriveLeftWheel,bNeedToDriveRigh tWheel);
else
MoveSandFly(false,true); //Hunt for new target
}
Not what you would call rocket science I think you'd agree. But the head of cybernetics (Known on http://www.theregister.com as Captain Cyborg for his other idiotic media antics) managed to get on national TV with them. Hence I have a certain amount of cynicism when these people claim any kind of breakthrough.

Incidentally I also remember him getting on NewsNight with an "AI" program which was "deciding" if it wanted to eat a hamburger or not. My code for that:

if((rand()%2)==1)
EatBurger();
else
WatchWeight();

Jeremy Paxman quite obviously hated his guts, as he can sniff out a fraud a mile off :)

BTW I transferred my ass outa there after the first year onto the Comp-Sci course and never looked back!