While bipedal robots still have their fair share of kinks to work out, nature gives roboticists all kinds of hints for other means of locomotion. A robot doesn’t need two legs to move, after all. There’s always four legs, fins, or dare I say, flippers.
Pliant Energy Systems has developed a new proof-of-concept robot codenamed “Velox.” It may look like a weird rubber hot dog at first, but Velox is one of the more adaptable privately-produced automatons in recent years. Velox is armed with two long, flexible fins. Finned robots usually have servo motors that make the fins move, but this only works for basic underwater movement. Velox’s fins contain multiple actuators that can augment the fins’ strength and flexibility as necessary. With these fins, it can swim like a champion, but with a quick adjustment, it can glide along hard surfaces like a vacuum cleaner, even slippery ones like ice sheets. Even semisolid surfaces like snow, sand, and mud can be “swam” through, allowing Velox to navigate terrain that would otherwise paralyze automatons that rely on limbs and wheels.
As previously mentioned, Velox is just a proof-of-concept. Pliant Energy has no plans for a commercial release of the odd little hot dog. That being said, Velox is being used as a jumping-off point for future robotics research. With these special fins, robots could be equipped to explore even the most inhospitable regions, such as the polar ice caps, without risk of slipping and breaking itself.
