Robots often draw inspiration from Mother Nature and the Velox robot follows this concept by taking design elements from undersea creatures like cuttlefish. Created by an engineering firm called Pliant Energy Sytems, the Velox robot features a pair of long, flexible fins that are powered by eight actuators. These fins are incredibly useful to the robot and allow it to easily traverse land-based and aquatic environments.
While on land, the fins of the Velox robot work like treads and allow the robot to easily navigate difficult terrain in an almost mesmerizing fashion. When in water the fins move in a more recognizable way by essentially paddling through the water like a stingray or cuttlefish. The Velox robot can also traverse less rigid surfaces, like snow and sand, by combining both movement capabilities to essentially swim through the surface.
What's Driving This Trend
- Bio-inspired Robotics
- The use of design elements from nature can result in innovative robots that can operate on various surfaces, disrupting traditional land- and sea-based automation.
- Flexible Surface Navigation
- Developing robots with flexible fins can lead to new opportunities for navigating different types of surfaces both on land and in water, disrupting the traditional use of treads and wheels.
- Multi-environment Robotics
- Creating robots that can operate seamlessly across different environments can lead to disruptive applications in various industries from agriculture to defense.
Who This Affects Most
- Agriculture
- Robots with flexible fins could be used to navigate different types of agricultural terrains, improving efficiency and reducing labor costs.
- Defense
- Bio-inspired robots with multi-environment capabilities can be used in military applications, such as reconnaissance and surveillance, disrupting traditional human-operated vehicles.
- Marine Science
- Flexible-surface robots like the Velox robot can aid in marine research by allowing for more efficient and non-invasive observations of underwater ecosystems.
