XRL robot uses tail for easy landing on springy feet (w/ Video)
Wednesday, August 1, 2012 - 05:00
in Biology & Nature
(Phys.org) -- What a difference a tail makes. Robots with tails can fly through the air while maintaining their orientation, evidence that appendages for robots can enhance performance and effectiveness. Past research from UC Berkeley explored what happens when you give a wheeled robot a controllable tail, as that used by the lizard. Now an extremely adept X-RHex Lite, or XRL for short, robot shows it can stay upright no matter how challenging the attempt is to make it do otherwise. The XRL is the result of a collaboration between UC Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania.