Cockroach-Inspired, Winged Robot Can Self-Right Itself

Small insects like cockroaches can rapidly right themselves when upside down, yet small fast-running legged robots are much less capable of ground-based self-righting. Inspired by the discoid cockroach that opens its wings to push against the ground to self-right, a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins University, and Army Research Laboratory designed actuated wings for robot self-righting. Their robot self-rights dynamically, with active wing pushing followed by passive falling, and benefits from increasing kinetic energy by pushing faster and longer.