Studying the fluid dynamics of snail slime is the impetus behind the RoboSnail. Just like a real snail has sticky substance on its muscular underbelly which allows it to move in every direction on almost any surface (bark, brick walls, glass windows), the Snailbot is comprised of moveable segments that ripple on top of a thin layer of synthetic snail sludge to enable it to climb up walls and stick to ceilings.
The robotic snail consists of electronics on top of a rubber footing about six inches long by one inch wide. The robot glides over a thin film offake mucus made of silicon oil. Two versions were created to test mathematical simulations describing different forms of snail locomotion.
Snails can move over complex terrains and they are mechanically simple. They also not not have any exposed joints, so a machine based on this simple form and covered with rubber resistant to corrosion can navigate in chemically harsh environments.
Graduate students at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT brought snails to the lab and studied them with tools including a video camera. They determined that snails have three different modes of locomotion. For example, some travel over the mucus by undulating their bodies in tiny waves moving from the front of the animal to the back.
By pushing the fluid backwards, snails build up large pressures in the thin layer of mucus. The sum of all these pressures then project the snail forward,. The robotic version of the snail mimics this backward undulating movement.
The second form of motion is by undulating in the reverse direction, from back to front. The students constructed another robot using forward-undulating locomotion.
The third form of movement in a snail is akin to galloping. Like an inchworm, the snail sticks the front of its foot to a surface (thanks to suction and friction from the mucus), then draws the rest of its body up behind it. There are no plans yet to build another robot at this point in time to mimic this motion.
The team discovered that RoboSnail I performed well, traveling at a speed close to that predicted by the team’s mathematical models.
Filed under: robot snail | Tagged: fluid dynamics, robosnail, robot snail, snailbot
