locomotion

Remember those toys that sprang up into the air after you pushed them down? They're called poppers, and they've inspired an actuator that could one day allow soft-bodied robots to jump across rough terrain.

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have looked to shore up the mobility and freedom of future planetary rovers with a new design that uses some clever trickery to get itself out of tight spots.

When we think of soft-bodied robots, we tend to picture things that slowly crawl like caterpillars. A new one is able to move much quicker, though, by leaping like a cheetah.

Taking inspiration from the traditional cane, a team of researchers has come up with a LiDAR-enabled robotic assistant which offers light-touch support for the mobility-impaired. Dubbed Canine, the device improves the user's spacial self-awareness, and thus, their walking stability.

​If you're making a 2-mm-long walking robot, it pretty much goes without saying that the thing won't be able to carry much of a battery. That's why Georgia Tech's new "micro-bristle-bots" are instead propelled by vibrations. And someday, they may actually be capable of moving within the human body.

In places like disaster sites, it's entirely possible that robots' locomotion systems could be damaged. Would that just stop them in their tracks? Perhaps not, if they're anything like a new brittle star-inspired robot.

Rigid steel-and-plastic robots have their place, but some applications require a softer touch. Now, a Harvard team has created a semi-soft robot inspired by insects, which is made using drinking straws and moves by inflating bladders.

Scientists recently studied one of the best sand-travelers in the animal kingdom – the sidewinder rattlesnake. After they analyzed its movement patterns and applied them to an existing snake-inspired robot, that robot was better able climb up sandy inclines.