Re: [WW] Weird animal stories [project pigeon]

[Jay <jaygilham@adelphia.net>]

Here is a strange but true missile guidance system:

In early 1942, Skinner, then of the University of Minnesota, conducted 
preliminary studies on the concept of using trained animals as a 
guidance system. The studies were funded at a low level by General 
Mills, a major food producer.

The US National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), which funded new 
technologies that might be useful for winning the war, was skeptical of 
the idea, but in mid-1943 awarded a $25,000 USD contract to General 
Mills to continue the work. The investigation was codenamed PROJECT 
PIGEON, and Skinner hoped to be able to use pigeons to guide a weapon to 
within 6 meters (20 feet) of a target.

Three pigeons were each tucked into a jacket made of a sock and then put 
into a harness inside the guidance system, facing a screen. An image of 
the target was projected onto each of the three screens through a lens 
system in the nose of the weapon, with crosshairs defined by beams of 
light. Each pigeon was supposed to peck at its screen, which was wired 
to provide feedback to the missile's flight controls, to keep the 
crosshairs on target. The system accepted inputs from all three pigeons, 
but only acted if two or all three agreed.

The pigeons were trained with slides of aerial photographs of the 
target, and if they kept the crosshairs on the target, they were 
rewarded by a grain deposited in a tray in front of them. Skinner later 
found that the pigeons were less easily disturbed under confusing 
circumstances if they were fed hemp (marijuana) seeds rather than grains.

Skinner hoped to fit the pigeon guidance system to a Pelican, but he 
never managed to overcome official skepticism. When he put on a 
demonstration in New Jersey of the pigeon guidance system for officials 
of the US Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) he was 
bitterly frustrated to see they were amused rather than impressed.

PROJECT PIGEON was abandoned. Skinner went home with 24 trained pigeons, 
which he kept in a dovecote in his garden. Whether the idea was 
practical or not, it appears that Skinner as a academic psychologist 
simply was not on the same wavelength as the industrial engineers and 
military officials he was trying to work with, and never managed to 
communicate with them effectively.


here are a few urls refering to the project.
http://www.vectorsite.net/twbomb3.html#m5
http://www.geocities.com/skews_me/behavior.html
-- 
Jay

Detonating a nuclear device within the city limits results in a $500 fine

Chico CA city ordinance