Robot salamander crawls and swims like the real thing

[Nipuna]

Hal Hodson, technology reporter

(Image: Kostas Karakasiliotis, Biorobotics Laboratory, EPFL)

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It's as if this robot has been inhabited by the ghost of a salamander, which helps it swim, crawl and walk just like the real thing.

Salamandra robotica II mimics a real salamander's way of moving by using a digital neural network that is instructed to swim, crawl or walk based on the intensity of electrical signals running through its "spinal cord" circuits.

A remote "brain" laptop mimics the signals that a real salamander brain sends to its spinal cord, letting the robot change its speed, direction and gait by triggering a simple electronic signal.

Developed by the Biorobotics Laboratory at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, the robot is an update to the researchers' original creation. They say the new model is more powerful, speedy and robust than its 2007 predecessor.

As well as being an interesting platform for robotics, Salamandra robotica II is a useful tool for understanding the systems that vertebrates use to move, and what can go wrong. It is to be presented at Innorobo in Lyon, France, this week.