The Super-Fast Swimming Centipede Robot

By Ariel Grossman February 21, 2023 2 minutes

Engineers in Israel have developed one of the world’s fastest amphibious robots.

It can crawl across rough terrain like a centipede at almost two miles an hour, and swim through rivers as if using flippers, like a dolphin, at almost a mile an hour.

A team at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev took their inspiration from the way animals moved.

Their robot, called AmphiSAW, moves like other amphibians when it’s deployed in the water, so it doesn’t scare fish. They’ll happily swim alongside it.

It can be used in search and rescue missions, especially during natural disasters like floods and tsunamis. It can also be used for marine agriculture and fish feeding, as it attracts fish instead of repelling them.

Amphibious robots have been designed over the last two decades for search and rescue, marine research, agriculture, security, and reconnaissance missions.

The AmphiSAW costs less than any other amphibious robot the engineers studied and weighs under 3lbs (1.2kg).

It can be fitted with legs or wheels at the front, which enables it to steer and engage with obstacles while crawling.

The robot is capable of complex maneuvers, but is very energy efficient. It relies on a unique wave-producing mechanism that uses a single motor.

“The single motor and bioinspired design contribute significantly to the robot’s efficiency and the relative simplicity of its design means it is scalable to any size,” said Dr. David Zarrouk, one of the engineers who built the robot.

The researchers’ findings were published in the peer reviewed journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics.