It’s yellow, modular, and can both walk and swim: it is Salamander robotica, the fruition of four years of research and one clever theory.
Auke Jan Ijspeert of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and his team made the robot to help test their theories on the evolution of walking: that famous moment when the first ‘fish’ scurried up onto land. The robotic creature helps to confirm their notion that the transition between swimming and walking can be quite simple.
The team used the amphibious salamander as a model for their study because it is reckoned to be very similar to the first ever land-walker.
More info: Nature
Video link of salamander included in link.
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