Skating Robot 'Swims' on Land September 04, 2007

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This is the Roller-Walker, a four-legged robot which can either walk conventionally or skate on retractable wheels. At the end of each leg there is a wheel which can turn 90 degrees to act as a foot. On rough surfaces the robot walks, but if it comes across a smoother surface then it rotates its wheels, and can skate in a weirdly graceful swimming motion. See a video of it in action after the jump.

The Roller-Walker has been constructed by the Hirose-Fukushima Robotics Lab in Japan, and uses considerably less energy when skating than conventional walking robots. -Matthew Sparkes

[Robots.net]