Embedded Files
Inspired by the biological design of crabs, our lab develops six-legged robots that harness the structural advantages of crabs for both offshore and onshore applications.
Research Highlights
Research Highlights
Image adapted from Silberstein et al. 2025 in Biomimetic and Hybrid Systems, Springer
Optimizing Efficiency in Crab-Like Robot Walk
Tamatoa, one of the lab's crab-inspired robots, was used to test a crab-like walking style. The results demonstrated that inward gripping with curved dactyls is most effective for walking on underwater sand, with or without wave activity.
Image adapted from Grezmak et al. 2024 in Sensors
Using Hall-Effect-Based Sensors to Classify Unexploded Ordnances (UXOs)
Accurate robotic UXO and non-UXO recognition may be the answer to detecting UXOs in UXO-contaminated shallow underwater environments, avoiding the need to put the safety of human divers at risk. Sebastian, a hexapod robot in the lab, shows potential in recognizing these objects buried in sand.
Image adapted from Gong et al. 2023 in Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, ASME
Despite mobility and manipulation often being considered separately, this study demonstrates that when mobility and manipulation are considered as one, the versatility of both tasks increases. This robot can walk to approach an object, and then grasp it to be pulled upward, functioning as a walking claw.
Image adapted from Chen et al. 2022 in Bioinspiration & Biomimetics
Sideways Walking for a Hexapod Robot is Most Efficient
In this study, Sebastian, a crab-like robot, was studied walking both forward and sideways in an attempt to understand how to maximize velocity while minimizing the cost of transport. Hexapod robots usually default to forward walking, but this study shows that for the most efficient walking, the robot must walk sideways... Just like a real crab! Sideways walking resulted in an improvement in walking by a 75% increase in speed and a 40% decrease in cost of transport.
CrabLine Robotics LLC.
CrabLine Robotics LLC.
A Start-Up that began at CWRU, CrabLine Robotics, aims to develop crab-like aquatic robots for underwater construction and removal of infrastructure.
Learn more by clicking any of the company links below:
Page updated
Report abuse