Robots Inspired by Nature

Sandrine Ceurstemont of New Scientist Tech blog compiled a neat list of robots inspired by nature:

Whereas the focus used to be on getting robots to perform specific tasks, like packaging chocolates in a manufacturing plant, researchers are now looking at creating more complex machines that can deal with unpredictable circumstances.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that they are turning to living creatures for inspiration. The video below shows some robots that have recently been developed: a salamander robot moves from water to land just like the real animal would, Waalbot walks on walls using an adhesive inspired by the fibers on geckos’ feet and a sophisticated Japanese robot is made of modules that can communicate with each other to tackle whatever obstacle it’s confronted with.

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