'Ghost robots' know how to dive, fly and climb all terrain

Japanese experts are developing a new, ghost-like robot with the ability to move automatically on all terrain, both on land, at sea and in the air, superior to other robots.

'The advantage of this type of robot is that it can adapt to the environment and move on different types of terrain in a predetermined period,' said Takeshi Kano, professor of adjunct at Dai's Institute of Electronic Telecommunications. Tohoku (Japan) said on Live Science.

Kano and colleagues recently published an article on the "ghost robot" in Bioinspiration and Biomimetics magazine.

Kano's team has been working on the types of robots that operate on many types of existing terrain and recognizes a critical limit: Designers have to create separate control systems to help robots move. On land, swim underwater and fly in the air. Existing robots cannot be adjusted to adapt to a predetermined time.

Figure simulation of 'ghost robot' with mobility ability
transferable on any terrain. (Photo: Live Science)

Initially, to find an idea of ​​the movement of 'ghost robot' , Mr. Kano and his colleagues studied snakes because this reptile crawled forward by forcing itself into the ground to gain momentum like in the subject. Skating.

Later, a friend told them about the flukes, creatures with paper-thin bodies, living in water or wet ground. Parasitic organisms such as trematodes can cause all kinds of health problems for humans and other animals. However, Mr. Kano and his colleagues were more interested in the movement of the fluke. To simulate it, they used a mechanism described by Kano that virtual snakes are tied together, forming a 'solid network ' with five birds in parallel, linked to five in another direction.

The team also came to a consensus on a basic principle in which any form of movement is conducted using the reaction from the environment. In other words, the robot is placed in complete autonomous mode, allowing it to be adapted to adapt to any abnormality that occurs on the journey.

Until now, computer simulations have shown that ghost robots can move effectively in strange terrains. However, Cecilia Laschi, an assistant professor of biological robotics research at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna School (Pisa, Italy) and also a leading project of manufacturing soft-bodied octopus robots for search activities - rescuing, judging that paper-thin robots are still in the design phase, 'but have created an important computing platform to eventually build and control all of these robots'.

Rolf Pfeifer, a robotics expert at the University of Zurich (Switzerland), also appreciates the prospects of 'robot ghosts ' in applications for discovery activities as well as checking for new and dangerous terrain. .