Study discovers new way to help robots go 'off-road'

Robots of the future may tackle obstacles and traverse uneven terrains, say scientists who found that adding a lizard-like tail to the machines can help them go 'off-road' sooner.

Researchers, including those from the University of Queensland in Australia, used a slow-motion camera to capture the nuanced movement of eight species of Australian agamid lizards that run on two legs -- an action known as 'bipedal' movement.

The study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, challenged existing mathematical models based on the animals' movement.

"There was an existing understanding that the backward shift in these lizards' center of mass, combined with quick bursts of acceleration, caused them to start running on two legs at a certain point," said Nicholas Wu, a researcher at the University of Queensland.

"What we found though is that some lizards run bipedally sooner than expected, by moving their body back and winging their tail up. This means that they could run bipedally for longer, perhaps to overcome obstacles in their path," Wu said.

Christofer Clemente from the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia said these results may have important implications for the design of bio-inspired robotic devices.

"We're still teasing out why these species have evolved to run like this in the first place, but as we learn more, it's clear that these lessons from nature may be able to be integrated into robotics," Clemente said.

"It's been suggested that this movement might have something to do with increasing vision in moments of urgency, by elevating the head at the same time and helping to navigate over obstacles," he said.

Bipedalism would be advantageous for robots in specific habitats, for example, on open grasslands where, in nature, many bipedal running agamids are found, researchers said.

"If obstacle negotiation is indeed improved with bipedal locomotion, then we have shown how the tail and body can be moved to enable it sooner and for longer," Clemente said.

"Maybe adding a tail to robots can help them go 'off-road' sooner," he said.