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Swift progress for robots over complex terrain

A four-legged robot has learnt to run on sand at a faster pace than humans jog on solid ground. With low energy use and few failures, this rapid robot shows the value of combining data-driven learning with accurate, yet simple, models.
  1. Chen Li

    1. Chen Li is in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.

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  2. Feifei Qian

    1. Feifei Qian is in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA.

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Anyone who has walked along a sandy beach knows how hard it is to move on sand. Like other granular materials, including mud and snow1, sand yields and flows under the feet until they sink deep enough, and then it stops flowing and provides a stable foothold. In addition, sand doesn’t spring back after impact, and the weight it can support before giving way depends on how wet and tightly packed it is, thus changing how much our foot sinks in and slips as we walk1. These complexities complicate the task of controlling a robot so that it can run on sand. However, writing in Science Robotics, Choi et al.2 have succeeded in doing so, enabling a four-legged robot to be fast, robust and energetically efficient on sand.

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Nature 616, 252-253 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00710-0

References

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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