They create a robot inspired by a crab that would be able to dig any surface

A team of researchers at UC Berkeley has created a robot based on the Pacific mole crab.

By publishing an academic article, the researchers noted that EMBUR, name with which the robot was baptized, is capable of digging vertically downwards. “We chose Emerita analoga as the model organism for its rapid downward burrowing behaviors, as it is four times faster than the fastest bivalve mollusc.”

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Laura Treers, researcher and part of the team, recounted in a video of said university, that at the beginning of the project they used to go to the beach and collect mole crabs because “That was the way we got them to do our data analysis.”

To design EMBUR, the researchers looked at the animals and realized that the 5 pairs of legs could be divided into two groups that vary in opposite directions from each other. Once the observation was made, they decided to reproduce these characteristics in the robot.

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According to an article on the UC Berkeley website, while digging sounds like a simple task, it’s quite the opposite. Mobilizing in granular media is complicated since the deeper the crab digs, the harder it pushes the kernels back, which complicates digging.

To overcome this obstacle and manage to imitate the movements of the animal, “Researchers designed the robot’s legs to have an anisotropic force response, meaning they experience a much greater force in one direction than another.”

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The purpose of this technological device is to assess farm soil, collect marine data, and observe soil and rock conditions in construction environments.

You can see EMBUR in action in the video below.

Source: Elcomercio

James

I have worked as a journalist for over 10 years and have written for various news outlets. I currently work as an author at 24 News Recorder, mostly covering entertainment news. I have a keen interest in the industry and enjoy writing about the latest news and gossip. I am also a member of the National Association of Journalists.