Robot Reptile To Go Undercover

I recently posted about a female robot sage-grouse to be used to lure unsuspecting males like the FBI on Myspace.

Now here is another case of robots being used to surreptitiously spy on the males of another species.

Jennifer Moore from Victoria University School of Biological Science has made a robot tuatara to mingle with the real monsters in the wild. She says, "If we can better understand how male tuatara establish their dominance, we may be better able to select individuals to start new populations in the future."

She was helped by artists from the special effects lab Weta Workshop to craft the robot. The body was cast from from one of the lab's tuataras, Oliver, who had passed away. He is now immortalized - reincarnated with the personality of a biology researcher.

Oliver the tuatara lives on - as a robot - 22 Feb 2007 - National News - New Zealand Herald