Robot Evolution: Salamandra
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Thursday, 4 of October , 2007 at 4:31 am
Salamandra is a robot designed to test models of spine-driven locomotion, which is the way that salamanders, snakes, and other long skinny animals get around. Researchers at the Biologically Inspired Robotics Group at the EPFL in Switzerland were interested in how salamanders were able to make the evolutionary transition between swimming and walking, and it turns out that fairly simple changes to the level of stimulation to the spinal cord effectively change from a walking gait to a swimming gait and back again. Note that in the part of the video where Salamandra is equipped with wheels instead of legs, it’s propelled entirely via spinal motion, like a snake. Salamandra is controlled wirelessly from a laptop, and although it’s just a research model, it’s so versatile that there’s got to be some practical applications in there somewhere. Even if it ends up as just a toy (and I find that unlikely), I’d buy one.
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Category: Research
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