Rescued Rats Learn How to Drive Their Custom Cars

Rats Driving Cars jpg
Somehow a fleet of rat taxis just makes sense. Two rescued rats have been trained to drive their own custom rovers.

The controls are pretty straightforward: middle pedal goes forward, left pedal turns the car left, right pedal turns it right. 🚘

It really didn’t take Kuzko and Kronk long to experiment with their new hot rods. At first we rewarded them for any interaction with the buttons. 🙌 Then, as they began to make associations with what each button did, we slowly increased the threshold of accuracy required before they got their treat. Eventually, they came to understand their task was to manoeuvre the car so that the portholes in the windshield aligned with wherever we held a delicious rice puff. 🧭

Kuzko and Kronk are featured in their Instagram page @emperorsofmischief. The humans based the cars on this University of Richmond study on rat cars. The study included open source plans for the rovers using Rasberry Pis.

Picked up by Laughing Squid


Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 38,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — New Products 11/15/2024 Featuring Adafruit bq25185 USB / DC / Solar Charger with 3.3V Buck Board! (Video)

Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: A New Arduino MicroPython Package Manager, How-Tos and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

Adafruit IoT Monthly — The 2024 Recap Issue!

Maker Business – Adafruit Daily — Apple to build another chip at TSMC Arizona

Electronics – Adafruit Daily — SMT Tip – Stop moving around!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !


No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.