Group News
Crash-landing robots take inspiration from geckos
- 22 August 2022
Insights gained from the hard landings of tree-climbing geckos leads to better and controlled perching in robotic aerial vehicles.
Ardian Jusufi Pranav Khandelwal Thomas David Rottier Fabian Schwab
Science - Watch this gecko smash headfirst into a tree—and still stick the landing
- 14 January 2022
High-speed video reveals why crash landings are no problem for geckos and other jumpers
Der Spiegel - on Robots informed by nature and made of soft active materials
- 11 December 2021
Die springenden Softies
Moderne Roboter sind oft leistungsfähige Abbilder des Menschen. Doch zuletzt interessierten sich Forscher eher für ferngesteuerte Fische, Spinnen oder Geckos. Sie entstehen aus weichen Materialien, die Muskeln und Gelenke nachahmen.
Geckos glide, crash-land, but don’t fall thanks to tail
- 07 September 2021
Soft perching robot validates the benefit of having a fifth leg
A scientific study published in Nature Communications Biology by researchers who work at the intersection between robotics and biology shows that geckos are capable of gliding. In the publication titled Tails stabilize landing of gliding geckos crashing head-first into tree trunks, the authors present footage showing that geckos with no major specializations for flight are in fact capable gliders. Experiments with a gecko-inspired robot confirm the reptile’s locomotion abilities are not entirely down to its feet. The tail plays just as much a pivotal role, the team from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Siena College in New York, and the University of California at Berkeley discovered.
The gecko's most astounding maneuver has nothing to do with its sticky feet
- 02 September 2021
(CNN) - Geckos would definitely medal in a contest for nature's best feet. The lizard's sticky toes, covered in tiny hairs, mean it can climb across ceilings in a fantastic feat of evolution. But scientists say the lizards' tails are just as extraordinary, with geckos performing a remarkable, if ungainly, maneuver that allows them to land securely and at ballistic speeds on vertical surfaces like tree trunks.
Robotic fish learns to match its swimming speed to the current
- 17 June 2021
Fish have a sensory system known as the lateral line, which allows them to detect movements, vibrations and pressure gradients in the water. Scientists have now given a robotic fish its own version of that system, letting it determine the best swimming speed.
Underwater swimming robot responds with feedback from soft lateral line
- 18 March 2021
A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Germany, from Seoul National University in Korea and from Harvard University in the US, successfully developed a predictive model and closed-loop controller of a soft robotic fish, designed to actively adjust its undulation amplitude to changing flow conditions and other external disturbances.
Ardian Jusufi Yu-Hsiang Lin Hritwick Banerjee Toshihiko Fukushima Fabian Schwab Robert Siddall Linda Behringer
Swimming robot gives valuable insights into locomotion of fish
- 09 June 2020
Researchers study morphological intelligence encoded into the physical system of animals
The community of researchers developing robot-models that are designed according to the morphological intelligence of animals is growing steadily. Roboticists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and Harvard University study a swimming soft robot and its wave-like propulsion under water. From their findings about the parameters which influence the thrust force of the robot, they then draw conclusions about the complex locomotion of fish.
Robert Siddall receives Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
- 23 October 2019
The roboticist from the Cyber Valley research group “Locomotion in Biorobotic and Somatic Systems” at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart will now be supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to continue his research in Germany.
TV show in Bayrischer Rundfunk "Gut Zu Wissen"
- 05 May 2019
(See Clip starting from 17:00 min onward).