locomotion
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A new underwater robot can swim through the water with fins, and walk or crawl along the bottom when necessary. These capabilities could really give it a leg up – pun fully intended – at outperforming its traditional thruster-powered counterparts.
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It might look hilarious in motion, but this remarkable aerial drone extends its battery life from a few minutes up to a full hour by bouncing around on a springy pogo tail. That incredible efficiency makes it attractive for a wide range of missions.
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A three-legged robot could one day be hopping across the surface of asteroids, searching for valuable minerals. Known as the SpaceHopper, the bot was recently put to the test on a zero-gravity aircraft flight.
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Danish scientists have developed an origami snake robot that could one day search for survivors at disaster sites, or even explore other planets. The device moves via rectilinear locomotion, just like real snakes often do.
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Water striders are fascinating to watch, as they scoot across the water while supported by surface tension. Scientists have now built a tiny robotic version of the insect, which utilizes a record-breaking actuator to get a move on.
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When we last heard from LimX Dynamics, the Chinese robotics firm was showing off a quadruped robot that could walk on legs or roll on wheels. The company has now released a video of its new humanoid robot, which can autonomously climb stairs.
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Walking bipedal robots excel at tasks such as traversing uneven terrain, but because they're so mechanically complex, they can't be made very small. That could soon change, however, thanks to the development of the Mugatu robot.
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Pleurocystitid was a marine organism that existed almost 450 million years ago, long before the first dinosaurs. Scientists have now built a soft-bodied robotic replica of it, which could inspire new methods of locomotion for future robots.
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If a robot is trying to traverse rugged, irregular terrain, it's limited by having just one body shape. The Tetraflex robot was designed with this fact in mind, as it can change shape to adopt different modes of locomotion.
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It goes without saying that it is very important for airliners' jet engines to be regularly inspected. Such inspections could soon be easier and more thorough than ever before, thanks to a robot that moves like an inchworm.
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Just last week, we heard about a robotic baby sea turtle that can "swim" through the sand. It's not the only robo-turtle in town, though, as another one has been developed to possibly one day lead real baby turtles to the safety of the sea.
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When baby sea turtles hatch from their buried eggs, they use their powerful flippers to make their way up through the sand. A new "sand-swimming" robot, inspired by those hatchlings, could one day save lives or even explore other planets.
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