The Third Edit: Move over Jurassic Park, Jurassic lab is here

Spare a thought for the palaeontologist. Like many a scientist she will — based on some initial data — put forward a hypothesis if you will. However, there is rarely a sure-fire way to test the theory, few experiments prove — say, that dinosaurs had feathers. (While Jurassic Park would have people believe otherwise, there is now more evidence to suggest that many dinosaurs did in fact, have plumage.) Fresh fossil finds, genetic sequencing and even how contemporary animals have adapted and evolved — the most sophisticated of clues rarely help form a complete picture of the life on Earth in the distant past. There is now, though, the possibility of a mechanical cheat code to solve the mysteries of biology — past and future.

For some time now, scientists have been using robots of extinct animals — based on what they know from fossil records and other findings — to gain a better understanding of ancient creatures. In January, South Korean scientists published their findings on Robopteryx — a man-made version of Caudipteryx, an omnivorous dinosaur that lived over 100 million years ago — to see how it moved. Earlier this month, researchers from Cambridge published in Science Robotics on the uses and potential of robots of ancient creatures to understand their evolution. Unlike computer simulations, they say, “real” creatures give a much better sense of anatomy and interaction. Coupled with AI-based projections, the dinobots (and robots of other extinct creatures) can help fill in the blanks in the evolution story.