October 23, 2009
Cheetah, Gecko and Roaches – Inspire Robot Designer
These are wild animals! Ironically, robot engineers hatched their imaginations on these creations. Robotic designer Sangbae Kim, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, decided to study on some of the mechanisms these animals use and replicate them in robots.
Cheetah is the fastest runner in the feline family. Geckos are large crawling lizards that can climb to walls with their "sticky" paws. And, the spiders, who have not seen the eight-legged crawling insect that can hang itself without falling? These are just few of the movements that inspired Mr. Kim to prototype his robots. “Moving is one of their biggest functions, and they do it very well. That’s why ideas from nature are very important for a robotic designer like me”, Kim said.
Among the robots Kim and his team have designed are the Stickybot, a robot that has foot pads based on a gecko’s feet, and iSprawl, a robot whose motion is inspired from cockroaches.
Their latest project is a robot inspired by the cheetah. The idea is to build a prototype robot from a lightweight carbon-fiber-foam composite that can run at the cheetah’s speed of 70 miles per hour.
Written by: John
Filed Under: Robotics
Tags: Build Robot, Cheetah, Cockroach, Cockroaches, Feline Family, Foot Pads, Gecko, Geckos, Imaginations, Institute Of Technology, Lightweight Carbon Fiber, Lizards, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Miles Per Hour, Mr Kim, Prototype Robot, Robot Designer, Spiders, Sticky Paws, Stickybot, Wild Animals
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