Researchers discovered that walking and slithering are not different from robotics data
Abrahamic texts treat slithering as a special indignity visited on the wicked serpent, but evolution may draw a more continuous line through the motion of swimming microbes, wriggling worms, skittering spiders, and walking horses. A new study led by the University of Michigan that all of these kinds of motion are well represented by a single mathematical model to identify how the motion of slithering is more than just a long-thought unique characteristic for a serpent. The team discovered the connection by taking a known model that describes swimming microbes and then reconfiguring it to use with their multi-legged robotics data. Also, while multipod robots slip up to 100% of the time, the team used data about ants walking on flat surfaces, finding they only slip about 4.7% of the time.
Walking and Slithering Share Common Characteristics:
This study holds the potential for helping us better understand the laws of kinematic motion. Even humans begin learning to propel themselves kinematically, crawling on hands and knees with the three points of contact on the ground at any time. The expanded understanding of kinematic motion could change the way roboticists think about programming many-limbed robots opening new possibilities for walking planetary rovers. This didn’t come out of anywhere but from our real robot data.
Even when the robot looks like it’s sliding, like its feet are slipping, its velocity is still proportional to how quickly it’s moving its body. The team took a known model describing swimming microbes and applied it to their multi-legged robots, with the result being a six-legged robot called BigAnt. Slipping feet complicates typical motion models for robots, and the assumption was that it might add an element of momentum to the motion of many-legged robots.
The post Robotics Data Proves that Walking and Slithering are not Different appeared first on Analytics Insight.