Adding legs to robots that have minimal awareness of the environment around them can help the robots operate more effectively in difficult terrain, my colleagues and I found. We were inspired by ...

MEVITA's design makes it both sturdy and easy to build by using a minimal number of parts that can all be found and bought ...

Multi-leg locomotion like this has been done in a process called tensegrity, but in that form, the legs extend only far enough to make the robot tumble in the desired direction.

More accurately, if the robot is immobilized by a broken leg, it only takes a few seconds for it to learn how to walk again, using a new gait that minimizes the impact of the broken leg.

The robot uses simulations to get to know its own body, which makes it more adaptable when things go wrong.

For example, Boston Dynamics makes robots that can travel arduous terrain, like steep inclines with obstacles. Some of their robots can jump using leg-like appendages, like other robots.

Researchers from Cornell University in New York have taught a mushroom to pilot an adorable starfish-shaped robot by harnessing the fungi's natural electrical signals.

Robots these days are equipped with locomotion systems to overcome all types of terrain, but tend to favor one type of environment in particular. Scientists at Norway's University of Oslo have ...

Leg spines that allow insects and spiders to scramble across gap-ridden surfaces, like the leaves of a bush, have been adapted by US researchers to give robots the same ability. The scientists ...