Skip to main content

Kill it before it lays eggs! Crazy 32-leg robot moves like a cyborg sea urchin

Continuous Shape Changing Locomotion of 32-legged Spherical Robot

We’ve written about one-legged, two-legged, four-legged and even six-legged robots, but researchers from Japan’s Keio University and the University of Tokyo have gone way, way further with their latest project: A 32-legged robot. Called Mochibot, the spherical robot moves by telescoping its individual legs, thereby pushing it wherever it needs to go. When it needs to remain still, it levels out all of its legs, keeping it stable on the ground. This movement is reminiscent of a creature like a sea urchin.

Each of Mochibot’s legs is composed of three sliding rails. These can extend to a maximum of 1.6 feet in length or shrink down to half that. The advantage of using this method of locomotion is that it should, in theory, make it much easier to move on challenging surfaces. That’s because Mochibot can essentially deform itself as it travels across the terrain, thereby giving it a leg up (pun kinda intended!) on robots which are stuck balancing on fewer legs. Presumably, it could also risk losing or damaging multiple legs, while still retaining the ability to move. The robot’s legs can additionally be modified to include cameras, sensors, or sampling devices for taking measurements.

The Mochibot robot’s unusual shape is referred to as a rhombic triacontahedron, a polyhedron with 32 vertices and 30 faces made of rhombuses. It weighs 22 pounds including its batteries and could carry a payload in its central section. Will a robot such as this ever launch as a commercial product? It is perhaps too early to tell, although we can certainly see potential applications in search and rescue missions, military transport, or even possibly exploring other planets. With that in mind, the researchers who created it are next planning to carry out more experiments with different types of terrain. Should Mochibot be able to successfully climb up and down slopes or roll over uneven, rock-covered surfaces, it will be interesting to see where the project goes from here.

The researchers recently presented a paper describing the work, titled “Continuous Shape Changing Locomotion of 32-legged Spherical Robot,” at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots (IROS 2018) in Madrid, Spain.

Editors' Recommendations

Luke Dormehl
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Don’t buy the Meta Quest Pro for gaming. It’s a metaverse headset first
Meta Quest Pro enables 3D modeling in mixed reality.

Last week’s Meta Connect started off promising on the gaming front. Viewers got release dates for Iron Man VR, an upcoming Quest game that was previously a PS VR exclusive, as well as Among Us VR. Meta, which owns Facebook, also announced that it was acquiring three major VR game studios -- Armature Studio, Camouflaj Team, and Twisted Pixel -- although we don’t know what they’re working on just yet.

Unfortunately, that’s where the Meta Connect's gaming section mostly ended. Besides tiny glimpses and a look into fitness, video games were not the show's focus. Instead, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wanted to focus on what seemed to be his company’s real vision of VR's future, which involves a lot of legs and a lot of work with the Quest Pro, a mixed reality headset that'll cost a whopping $1,500.

Read more
Meet the game-changing pitching robot that can perfectly mimic any human throw
baseball hitter swings and misses

Who’s your favorite baseball pitcher? Shane McClanahan? Sandy Alcantara? Justin Verlander? Whoever you said, two of the top sports-tech companies in the U.S. -- Rapsodo and Trajekt Sports -- have teamed up to build a robot version of them, and the results are reportedly uncannily accurate.

Okay, so we’re not talking about walking-talking-pitching standalone robots, as great a sci-fi-tinged MLB ad as that would be. However, Rapsodo and Trajekt have combined their considerable powers to throw a slew of different technologies at the problem of building a machine that's able to accurately simulate the pitching style of whichever player you want to practice batting against -- and they may just have pulled it off, too.

Read more
The best portable power stations
EcoFlow DELTA 2 on table at campsite for quick charging.

Affordable and efficient portable power is a necessity these days, keeping our electronic devices operational while on the go. But there are literally dozens of options to choose from, making it abundantly difficult to decide which mobile charging solution is best for you. We've sorted through countless portable power options and came up with six of the best portable power stations to keep your smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other gadgets functioning while living off the grid.
The best overall: Jackery Explorer 1000

Jackery has been a mainstay in the portable power market for several years, and today, the company continues to set the standard. With three AC outlets, two USB-A, and two USB-C plugs, you'll have plenty of options for keeping your gadgets charged.

Read more