New Amphibious Robot

Many four legged animals are very good swimmers. This makes them amphibious and enables them to efficiently exploit land and water based resources. Realizing amphibious legged robots will be useful in many search, rescue, and recovery tasks. This will also enable non-intrusive environmental monitoring.

The University of Maryland researchers have developed a new legged robot called Robo Terp. This legged robot takes inspiration from turtles, and, like many turtles, it is able to both walk and swim. Its legs are designed to include passive compliant components, which act as one-way valves to control water flow and allow the robot to keep its legs in the water while swimming. This leads to splash-free swimming without increasing the robot cost.