Gallery of the Uncommon

I'm more into cakes

Sometimes people like to think that research is all about science, objectivity and accuracy, but that isn’t true. Our researchers need to be creative and clearly they are. One of these days, we will present an article on the “Gallery of the Uncommon” about the names of some of our projects and then you will be able to verify how far the imagination of our fellow INESC TEC colleagues goes.

After naming robots like Eva and Mara (long live gender equality!), it was time for an autonomous female robot that explores flooded mines to show up...Her name is Nata.

And why is that? Here is the explanation: because in Latin, “natare” means swimming and obviously she can swim very well and also because she is small and rounded like a pastel de nata (Portuguese custard tart), which our European partners found here in Portugal and fell in love with!

BIP has already heard about the names of the future robots: Clarinha, Éclair, Torta, Queijada and Sericaia, but some even suggested Bola de Berlim – in honour of our German partners in European projects - or the Bolo de Arroz* – which will leave the potential Eastern partners with even more pronounced slit eyes.

So, hungry already?!

* All of these are names of Portuguese cakes.

Image credits: https://twitter.com/unexmin