Kind of confusing to me. Because personally I have thought the concept of imitating dogs and humans walking, is a potential weak point in robot design. But this? I fail to see it's practicality. It seems, better at, going directly left when it was going forward? The fact that the whole design rolls to move makes it fairly, impractical for any tasks involving moving things or using anything. It can travel on sand, though I'd imagine stairs or even too high of a hill would be implausible.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

It's for research. This is exactly the kind of stuff we need to get away from the humanoid robot craze

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago

kinda funny because I feel like you could do that with four limbs that are positioned like the carbon atom equidistant apart. Should be able to lower the top limb between two and raise the one that is now opposite and if the weight is enough it should tumble over.

[–] CovfefeKills@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Maybe at nanobot scales this would be awesome for delivering cures and stabbing viruses. The distributed sensors could be working together but also each one specialise in spotting certain virus traits. It can actuate legs, grabbers or stabbers with the same mechanisms for simplicity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jcmwC0ur90 I can imagine a nanobot like the OP making its way around this world