Pint of Postdoc Speaker Recap - Dr. Sree Kalyan Patiballa

“A Bio-inspired amphibious robot with adaptive morphing”

Dr. Sree Kalyan Patiballa

Edited by: Aileen Fernandez

Amphibious robots capable of navigating aquatic and terrestrial environments have potential applications in diverse sectors such as bio-monitoring, disaster response, security, and platforms to study the physics of locomotion in different animals. Many amphibious robots are commonly designed to use independent specialized transit mechanisms in each medium – for example, wheels for terrestrial locomotion and propellers for aquatic locomotion. However, such physically distinct propulsive mechanisms can impede the robot’s performance in either environment.

For the August 2021 Pint of Postdoc series, Sree Kalyan Patiballa presented a robot capable of traversing multiple environments by adapting its limbs and its gaits to those inspired by terrestrial and aquatic turtles. The interplay of gait, limb shape, and the environmental medium revealed vital parameters that govern the robots’ cost of transport (CoT). The results from this study suggest that the concept of uniting traditional robotics components and soft materials will catalyze the next generation of adaptive robotic systems.