locomotion

Unlike TARS in the movie, TARS3D doesn’t need human puppeteers to move. Its biotranscending morphology delivers “multiple previously unexplored locomotion modes,” and further exploration offers a “promising pathway for multimodal robotics”

Although we've seen many robotic water striders over the years, scientists are still finding new aspects of the insects to replicate. Recently, for instance, researchers created a strider-bot that zips across the water's surface via fans on its feet.

If you, like us, were under the impression that two-legged dinosaurs were pacy beasts that could zip across the ground at around 40 mph, researchers have some bad news. A new study suggests they were much, much slower than previously thought.

Although soft-bodied robots can be simple devices, they typically require onboard electronics to control their locomotion. Such is not the case with a new bot, however, which utilizes a phenomenon of physics to automatically move its inflatable legs.

Quadruped "robot dogs" may move quite a bit like their canine counterparts on land, but they're not nearly as good at swimming (although some can walk underwater). Such is not the case with a new mini-dog-bot, however, which is an expert at doing the dog-paddle.

Flying robots do have advantages over their ground-going counterparts, but they're not very energy-efficient. A new bot addresses that tradeoff by using a wing-assisted mechanism to hop instead of walking or flying in the traditional sense.

If a robot is being used to gather data in sensitive aquatic environments, it shouldn't have a whirring propeller that could harm wildlife or get caught in weeds. A new bot addresses that issue by utilizing a swimming mechanism inspired by flatworms.

Steering a wheelchair can be a strenuous, inefficient process, in that you have to brake with one rear wheel while pushing harder on the other. A clever new chair addresses that problem in a brilliant fashion, by using a moveable backrest to steer.

Despite what you might say when drunk, you’re not the best backflipper in the world. That honor belongs to a tiny little bug called a globular springtail, whose superfast backflips have now been caught on slow-motion camera for the first time.

Snails are great at climbing vertical surfaces, even though they have just a single wet suction-cup foot. A new robot climbs walls by mimicking that simple yet effective mechanism, although thankfully it leaves a trail of water instead of mucus.

You might think that having four legs with wheels on the ends would already make a robot pretty useful. China's LimX Dynamics is taking things further, however, as its W1 quadruped robot is now able to stand up and walk on two "feet."

If a soft-bodied robot uses rigid actuators to move its body, then it isn't really soft now, is it? An experimental new caterpillar-inspired bot gets around that conundrum by using soft, collapsible origami segments to squirm and steer its way into our hearts.