Salto the squirrelly robot could be the future of space exploration — and challenging rescue operations here on Earth: researchers
Engineers developing space exploration robots drew inspiration from the common squirrel for their latest cutting-edge bot design, which they say could also help in search and rescue missions during disasters.
Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, created a robot capable of imitating the furry woodland creatures' ability to hop and land on a narrow target, like squirrels do when they leap from branch to branch, according to a study.
'We've been inspired by squirrels,' study co-author and Berkeley grad Justin Yim told Science News Explores on Tuesday.
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'Squirrels are nature's best athletes,' added Robert Full, one of the study's senior authors and a professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley. 'The way that they can maneuver and escape is unbelievable.'
The researchers studied how the bushy-tailed acrobats leap – and more importantly land – and applied that knowledge while building the one-legged robot they named Salto.
'Based on studies of the biomechanics of squirrel leaps and landings, they have designed a hopping robot that can stick a landing on a narrow perch,' the university said in a press release.
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Salto is designed to mimic the acrobatic parkour skills of a squirrel and land with pinpoint precision.
The pogo-stick-like bot's nickname stands for Saltatorial Agile Locomotion on Terrain Obstacles, for its skill borrowed from the nut-loving rodents. 'Saltatorial' is the scientific word to describe animals such as kangaroos, grasshoppers and rabbits that have evolved to be natural leapers.
3 Researchers drew inspiration from squirrels when building Salto, a tiny one-legged robot.
Sebastian Lee (top image) and Justin Yim (bottom)
Salto will be able to not only explore low-gravity objects in space, researchers said, but also help people trapped in disasters here on Earth.
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'The robots we have now are OK, but how do you take it to the next level? How do you get robots to navigate a challenging environment in a disaster where you have pipes and beams and wires? Squirrels could do that, no problem. Robots can't do that,' Full said.
'For example, in a disaster scenario, where people might be trapped under rubble, robots might be really useful at finding the people in a way that is not dangerous to rescuers and might even be faster than rescuers could have done unaided,' Yim, who now works at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told Core77.
A video produced by Berkeley shows Salto in action, crouching down before it leaps from one metal dowel to another, wrapping its claw-like foot along the dowel as it sticks the landing.
3 Salto the squirrelly robot uses his flywheel to correct his balance.
UC Berkeley
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Researchers first started working on the spindly robot in 2016 and have made several tweaks over the years to improve its balance.
Salto was able to successfully leap from one pipe to another 25 out of 30 times, but its landings could be better, according to researchers.
'There's lots of room for improvement,' Yim told Science News Explores.
3 Researchers said once Salto is perfected, he can explore space and rescue people here on Earth from disasters.
Justin Yim, UIUC
Engineers could refine Salto's claw, he said, so it has a firmer grasp, the way a squirrel grips a tree branch with its toes.
The researchers' goal is to get Salto to be able to hop the length of a football field and land on an area as tiny as a dime.
Once perfected, the rodent-inspired robot could explore Enceladus, a moon of Saturn where the gravity is one-eightieth that of Earth, the researchers said.
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