In November 2015, a team of engineers from the BioRobotics Lab (BioRob) at EPFL’s School of Engineering faced a unique challenge.
They were asked by the BBC to create two robots that looked and acted like real animals – one like a crocodile and the other like a monitor lizard.
Their mission was to blend in with wildlife along the Nile River in Uganda to secretly film the nesting behaviors of these reptiles.
This request was a leap from their usual lab tests, pushing them into the unpredictable wild.
Previously, the team, led by Auke Ijspeert, had mainly tested their robots, inspired by animals, in controlled lab environments.
Now, they had to make robots that could survive the harsh conditions of Uganda and still capture high-quality video footage.
The project required the robots, named SpyCroc and SpyLizard, to not only look like their real-life counterparts but also to house cameras and equipment within a realistic-looking skin.
To prepare these robotic spies for their mission, the engineers made several design changes. They opted for simple, low-cost parts that could be easily replaced in the field, where fixing a robot could be tricky.
The harsh Ugandan climate posed another set of challenges.
The robots had to operate in temperatures that could reach up to 80 degrees inside their “bodies”, causing them to overheat and shut down.
The team had to find ways to keep them cool and functioning, even in the most intense heat.
The rugged terrain also meant that the robots needed to be sturdy yet flexible enough to navigate without breaking. Sand, dust, and moisture were constant threats to the delicate internal components. Through trial and error, the engineers learned that more joints and rigid parts were more likely to fail under these conditions.
This hands-on experience in the field was invaluable, leading to the development of a new and improved version of their robotic platform, Krock-2.
This newer model was not only more durable and water-resistant but also had the potential to be used in disaster response and rescue missions.
Beyond the practical improvements, the BioRob team’s fieldwork opened up new research opportunities.
One exciting direction is the development of robotic skin with sensors that can detect touch and pressure, mimicking the sensitivity of human skin. This advancement could significantly enhance the way robots interact with their environment and with people.
The lessons learned from the field tests in Uganda are not only about making robots that can withstand harsh conditions.
Ijspeert and his team are passionate about using these bio-inspired robots to answer scientific questions, such as understanding how extinct species moved.
Robots like these can act as physical models to test theories about the locomotion of dinosaurs and other ancient creatures, bridging the gap between robotics and fields like neuroscience, biomechanics, and paleontology.
By sharing their findings and designs as open-source resources, the BioRob lab hopes to make these advanced robotic platforms more accessible to researchers and innovators around the world.
This collaboration could lead to robots that not only help us understand our past but also prepare us for the challenges of the future.
