Dung beetles are known for rolling dung into balls to transport food back to their burrows. Not surprisingly, researchers have been inspired by it to build a robot that can roll balls on a variety of terrains. They used a modular neural-based loco-manipulation control system inspired by the ball rolling behavior of these creatures. This system has central pattern generator, pattern formation network, and robot orientation control modules.
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Nature's All-in-One: Multitasking Robots Inspired by Dung Beetles
As this video shows, ALPHA can walk and roll balls on flat and uneven terrains. It can handle soft and rigid balls. Binggwong Leung, Stanislav Gorb, and Poramate Manoonpong are the researchers behind this.
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