A robotic lizard travels through the sand. Free Technical Library News

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Robot lizard travels through the sand

05.04.2013

A robot lizard with C-shaped legs, created by a group of American scientists, can become a champion in moving on sand, gravel and other loose surfaces. In addition, it will help scientists in creating a full-fledged mathematical theory that describes movement on surfaces with the properties of both a liquid and a solid body.

In an article published in the journal Science, Daniel Goldman of the Georgia Institute of Technology and his colleagues note that movement on a loose surface is mathematically more complex than movement in a liquid. Scientists have developed the basic provisions of "terradynamics" and tested them in the experiment: using a 3D printer, they printed various forms of "legs" for an experimental robot weighing about 150 g.

“While the legs are convex, the robot has a large step with little body resistance, and therefore it can run fast. When the shape of the robot’s limbs is flat or concave, the performance drops,” Goldman cites the article. According to him, during the experiments it became clear that the laws of this movement are common to all loose media, including those consisting of poppy seeds, glass beads or natural sand.

Scientists believe that the advantageous form of limbs they have found for a robot can later be used to create a promising apparatus for search and rescue operations, as well as in the study of Mars.

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