Wild Designs

A robot steps across the slick surface of a spacecraft. Another squeezes through the opening of an underwater cave. Engineers are hard at work developing machines that can do surprising things. But they didn’t come up with the ideas from scratch—they had some help from nature.

A robot steps across the slick surface of a spacecraft. Another squeezes through the opening of an underwater cave. Engineers are hard at work creating machines that can do surprising things. But they didn’t come up with the ideas from scratch. They had some help from nature.

Engineers around the world are building robots that mimic the special abilities of animals. Copying nature in this way is called biomimicry (bye-oh-MIM-ik-ree). 

“People have been making robots for about 70 years,” says Aaron Parness, an engineer at NASA. “Nature has been at work for billions of years. We can learn from the animals around us.”  

Many engineers are copying the special abilities of animals to build robots. Copying nature in this way is called biomimicry (bye-oh-MIM-ik-ree). 

“People have been making robots for about 70 years,” says Aaron Parness. He’s an engineer at NASA. “Nature has been at work for billions of years. We can learn from the animals around us.”  

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals on Earth. So when engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) wanted to build a super-speedy running robot, they looked to the big cats for inspiration. The result: this battery-powered cheetah robot, which can sprint up to 29 miles (47 kilometers) per hour. That’s faster than the world’s fastest human!

Real cheetahs are swift runners thanks in part to their flexible backbones. Stretching their bodies as they run helps the cats cover more ground with each step. To mimic this ability, engineers gave the robot a rubbery spine that expands and contracts as it moves. 

Sensors on the robot map its surroundings so it can detect obstacles and jump over them. The MIT team hopes the technology will one day help engineers build vehicles that travel quickly over rough terrain.

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had an idea. They wanted to build a super-speedy running robot. The engineers looked to cheetahs for inspiration. The big cats are the fastest land animals on Earth. 

The result: a battery-powered cheetah robot. It can sprint up to 47 kilometers (29 miles) per hour. That’s faster than the world’s fastest human!

Real cheetahs have flexible backbones to help them move fast. The cats’ bodies stretch as they run. That helps them cover more ground with each step. Engineers gave their robot a rubbery spine to copy this ability. It stretches and shrinks as the robot moves. 

The robot can also detect objects and jump over them. The MIT team hopes it will inspire new vehicles that travel quickly over rough ground.

Most robots contain hard parts like batteries and computer chips. But Octobot, a robot designed at Harvard University in Massachusetts, does not. The squishy machine is the world’s first completely soft robot. 

Octobot’s movement is controlled by chemical reactions instead of by computers. Liquid flows through tiny tubes in the robot’s body. When the liquid turns to gas, Octobot’s arms bend. No electronics required! 

The engineers who built Octobot were inspired by an octopus. This animal’s soft, boneless body can squeeze through tiny openings. One day, soft robots could help explorers search underwater caves.

Most robots have hard parts like batteries and computer chips. But not Octobot. It was created at Harvard University in Massachusetts. The machine is the first totally soft robot. 

Octobot’s motion is controlled by chemical reactions. (Most other robots use computers.) Liquid flows through tiny tubes in the robot’s body. The liquid turns into a gas. It causes the Octobot’s arms to bend. No electronics required! 

An octopus inspired the engineers who built Octobot. This animal has a soft, boneless body. It can squeeze through tiny openings. Soft robots could help explorers search underwater caves someday.

When ants team up, they can accomplish incredible things—like carrying a piece of food much larger than they are. Engineers at the German company Festo wanted to make robots that cooperate in a similar way. So they created BionicANTs—ant-shaped robots the size of a human hand that can communicate with each other. 

Each BionicANT has a small radio in its abdomen. The robots use these devices to send each other messages as they work on a task together. In the future, the engineers hope, this technology could help factory robots work together to build products.  

Ants can do amazing things when they team up. For example, they can carry a piece of food much larger than themselves. Engineers wanted to make robots that work together in a similar way. They work at the German company Festo. They created BionicANTs. The robots are shaped like ants. They are the size of a human hand. 

Each BionicANT has a small radio in its abdomen. The robots use these devices to send each other messages. It allows them to talk while working on a task together. The engineers hope this technology could help factory robots. They could work together to build products in the future.

Geckos can climb almost any surface, from a tree to a glass window. “When we wanted to build a climbing robot, geckos were the first thing we looked to,” says NASA engineer Parness.

Geckos get their climbing ability from millions of microscopic hairs on their toes. The hairs help the reptiles cling to whatever they touch. Inspired by geckos, NASA engineers covered a mechanical foot with miniature hairs made of rubber. A robot with these gripping feet can easily climb even the smoothest surfaces.

This past summer, astronauts took some of the gripping feet to the International Space Station to test them in the low gravity of space. Parness hopes gecko-inspired robots could someday roam the outside of spacecraft to help make repairs. 

Geckos can climb almost any surface. They can even walk up a glass window! “When we wanted to build a climbing robot, geckos were the first thing we looked to,” says NASA engineer Aaron Parness.

Geckos get their climbing ability from millions of tiny hairs on their toes. The hairs help the animals cling to whatever they touch. That inspired NASA engineers. They covered a mechanical foot with tiny hairs. The hairs were made of rubber. A robot with these gripping feet can easily climb even the smoothest surfaces.

Astronauts took some of the gripping feet to the International Space Station this past summer. They tested them in the low gravity of space. Parness hopes gecko-inspired robots could someday roam the outside of spacecraft. They could help make repairs.