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The logo has deep philosophical,
mathematical, and engineering significance and is
represented in all facets of the Logo. Here are the
main themes and some reasoning:
- Two R's in *Rio*RoboLab, back-to-back are
the supporting structures that represent Stability,
in all aspects. Structures formed as mirrors are
the most stable platforms.
- The hemispherical shape above the R's is
our Mind. The bright spot symbolizes Human ingenuity
and the strength of our Mind. It is this strength
of our Mind that is responsible for developing
technologies that can attempt to mimic Nature.
- Technologies that mimic Nature must merge
with Nature and result in Green Technologies.
Such technologies therefore must all be bio-inspired
from all forms of biological systems that Nature
has to offer. These are shown as 5 Green rays
that overlap the rays of the Sun behind. This
also symbolizes the reaching out to the Sun and
for the brightness in our Mind to reach the level
of brightness of the Sun.
- The River represents a river-of-knowledge.
It is many such rivers that flow into an Ocean
of knowledge far beyond all Human imagination.
*Rio*RoboLab is one such river-of-knowledge. The
river flows from an area of darkness, symbolic
of lack of Human knowledge for how to mimic Nature
and in how we understand performing what we understand.
It is how we understand performing what we understand
doing, that makes the bio-inspired technology
possible. Such understanding comes about from
the richness of knowledge we all acquire in our
academic learning.
- The number 3 is very significant because
of the triangle (Triad) which is the most stable
element. We use triangular approximations in all
aspects of stability analysis, finite element
modeling, and in robotics. This number is depicted
as 3 Stars along the river-of-knowledge. The sparkle
is meant to
symbolize the rich Mind and pure knowledge of
all members of *Rio*RoboLab. Just below the hemisphere
symbolizing our Mind is a cog wheel that is partially
occluded. The part not occluded is what we can
see in robotic behavior, namely, cogs and wheels.
It is the part we cannot see that represents the
blending of Human knowledge with Machine knowledge.
Finally, the small edge of the Organ Mountains
that blocks the view of the last Green ray is
symbolic of the imperfection with which we attempt
to mimic Nature. It is meant to show that no matter
how hard we try, we could never duplicate Nature,
we can get close to mimicking other biological
systems, but not entirely. We just cannot "build"
a real live butterfly or a real hummingbird.
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