The question may be the 21st century’s version of the fable of the tortoise and the hare: Who would win in a foot race between a robot and an animal?

In a new perspective article, a team of engineers from the United States and Canada, including ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder roboticist Kaushik Jayaram, set out to answer that riddle. The group analyzed data from dozens of studies and came to a resounding “no.” In almost all cases, biological organisms, such as cheetahs, cockroaches and even humans, seem to be able to outrun their robot counterparts. 

The researchers, led by and , published their findings .

“As an engineer, it is kind of upsetting,” said Jayaram, an assistant professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder. “Over 200 years of intense engineering, we’ve been able to send spacecraft to the moon and Mars and so much more. But it’s confounding that we do not yet have robots that are significantly better than biological systems at locomotion in natural environments.”

He hopes the study will inspire engineers to learn how to build more adaptable, nimble robots. The researchers concluded that the failure of robots to outrun animals doesn’t come down to shortfalls in any one piece of machinery, such as batteries or actuators. Instead, where engineers might falter is in making those parts work together efficiently.  

This pursuit is one of Jayaram’s chief passions. His lab on the ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder campus is home to a lot of creepy crawlies, including several furry wolf spiders that are about the size of a half dollar.

“Wolf spiders are natural hunters,” Jayaram said. “They live under rocks and can run over complex terrain with incredible speed to catch prey.”

He envisions a world in which engineers build robots that work a bit more like these extraordinary arachnids.

“Animals are, in some sense, the embodiment of this ultimate design principle—a system that functions really well together,” he said.

A cockroach alongside the HAMR-Jr robot. (Credit: Kaushik Jayaram)

Cockroach energy

The question of “who can run better, animals or robots?” is complicated because running itself is complicated. 

In previous research, Jayaram and his colleagues at Harvard University designed a line of robots that seek to mimic the behavior of the oft-reviled cockroach. The team’s fits on top of a penny and sprints at speeds equivalent to that of a cheetah. But, Jayaram noted, while HAMR-Jr can bust a move forward and backward, it doesn’t move as well side-to-side or over bumpy terrain. Humble cockroaches, in contrast, have no trouble running over surfaces from porcelain to dirt and gravel. They can also and .

To understand why such versatility remains a challenge for robots, the authors of the new study broke these machines down into five subsystems including power, frame, actuation, sensing, and control. To the group’s surprise, few of those subsystems seemed to fall short of their equivalents in animals. 

Kaushik Jayaram, right, with graduate student Heiko Kabutz, left, in Jayaram's lab on the ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder campus. (Credit: Casey Cass/ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder)

High-quality lithium-ion batteries, for example, can deliver as much as 10 kilowatts of power for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) they weigh. Animal tissue, in contrast, produces around one-tenth that. Muscles, meanwhile, can’t come close to matching the absolute torque of many motors. 

“But at the system level, robots are not as good,” Jayaram said. “We run into inherent design trade-offs. If we try to optimize for one thing, like forward speed, we might lose out on something else, like turning ability.”

Spider senses

So, how can engineers build robots that, like animals, are more than just the sum of their parts? 

Animals, Jayaram noted, aren’t split into separate subsystems in the same way as robots. Your quadriceps, for example, propel your legs like HAMR-Jr’s actuators move their limbs. But quads also produce their own power by breaking down fats and sugars and incorporating neurons that can sense pain and pressure.

Jayaram thinks the future of robotics may come down to “functional subunits” that do the same thing: Rather than keeping power sources separate from your motors and circuit boards, why not integrate them all into a single part? In a 2015 paper, ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder computer scientist Nikolaus Correll, who wasn’t involved in the current study, proposed such theoretical “robotic materials” that work more like your quads. 

Engineers are still a long way away from achieving that goal. Some, like Jayaram, are making steps in this direction, such as through his lab’s Compliant Legged Articulated Robotic Insect (CLARI) robot, a multi-legged robot that moves a little like a spider. Jayaram explained that CLARI relies on a modular design, in which each of its legs acts like a self-contained robot with its own motor, sensors and controlling circuitry. The team’s  can move in all directions in confined spaces, a first for four-legged robots.

It's one more thing that engineers like Jayaram can learn from those perfect hunters, wolf spiders.

“Nature is a really useful teacher.”

Off

The article, "Design of CLARI: A Miniature Modular Origami Passive Shape-Morphing Robot," discusses the design and creation of Jayaram's compliant legged articulated robotic insect.

Jayaram is an assistant professor in the Robotics Program and the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is an expert in robotics and systems design, materials, and work at the micro and nanoscale.

The cover shows a 2.59 gram, 3.4 cm long, modular origami robot capable of passive shape morphing.

These tiny robots provide unique abilities to access confined environments and have potential for applications such as search-and-rescue and high-value asset inspection.

Off

Assistant Professor Kaushik Jayaram’s Animal Inspired Movement and Robotics Laboratory recently won the , rising above around 3,000 other academic papers that were submitted to the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Along with Jayaram as the PI of the lab, PhD student Heiko Kabutz was the lead researcher of the paper, and PhD students Alex Hedrick and Parker McDonnell were coauthors, as well.

Their paper titled , improves upon their to demonstrate the ability to passively change its shape to squeeze through narrow gaps in multiple directions. This is a new capability for legged robots, let alone insect-scale systems, that enables significantly enhanced maneuverability in cluttered environments, and has the potential to aid first responders after major disasters.

Kabutz and Jayaram’s latest version is scaled down 60% in length and 38% in mass, while maintaining 80% of the actuation power. The robot weighs less than a gram but can support over three times its body weight as an additional payload. It is also over three times as fast as its predecessor reaching running speeds of 60 millimeters per second, or three of its body lengths per second.

Check out their video of mCLARI here: .

With the latest breakthrough that Jayaram and Kabutz have now achieved with their research, they are able to scale down (or up), their design without sacrificing design integrity bringing such robots closer in size to real-world application needs.

“Since these robots can deform, you can still have slightly larger sizes,” Jayaram said. “If you have a slightly larger size, you can carry more weight, you can have more sensors, you'll have a longer lifetime and be more stable. But when you need to be, you can squish through and go through those specific gaps.”

Kabutz, who leads the design of the mClari, has surgeon-like hands that allow him to build and fold the tiny legs of the robot. Kabutz grew up fascinated by robots and competed in robotic competitions in high school.

“Initially, I was interested in building bigger robots,” said Kabutz, “but when I came to Jayaram’s lab, he really got me interested in building bioinspired robots at the insect scale.”

Jayaram’s research team studies concepts from biology and applies them to the design of real-world engineered systems. In his lab, you can find robots modeled after the body morphologies of various arthropods including cockroaches and spiders. 

“We are fundamentally interested in understanding why animals are the way they are and move the way they do,” said Jayaram, “and how we can build bioinspired robots that can address social needs, like search and rescue, environmental monitoring, or even use them during surgery.”

Off

An assistant professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Robotics Program, Jayaram is an expert in bioinspired robotics and biomechanics.

He is the creator of CLARI - Compliant Legged Articulated Robotic Insect. The robots were built in the style of insects; they're tiny, squishable and can shape-shift to fit through different gaps.

“Most robots today basically look like a cube,” Jayaram said. “Why should they all be the same? Animals come in all shapes and sizes.”

Off

Assistant Professor Kaushik Jayaram is part of an interdisciplinary team who have received a University of ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder Outreach Award for their efforts to get the next generation of STEM programming into rural K-12 schools in ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ. 

New science standards in ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ require students to learn by working through problems rather than memorizing facts. These new standards, based on , represent a significant change in what students will be expected to know and how science teachers will teach. 

To address these changing needs, Jayaram and his team want to develop a bioinspired robotics toolkit and an accompanying curriculum that will emphasize real-world problem-solving and hands-on learning. They call it “Build a Better Bug.” 

The team brings together a diversity of disciplines. Along with Jayaram, Alexandra Rose of the Ecology and Evolutionary Department will help lead the team. Distinguished Professor William Penuel of the School of Education, Nathan McNeill, Stacey Forsyth and Scott Sieke will also lend their expertise in education. 

The toolkits are inspired by Jayaram’s research in his Animal Inspired Movement and Robotics Laboratory, where Jayaram and his research team study concepts from biology and apply them to the design of real-world engineered systems. In his lab, you can find robots modeled after the body morphologies of cockroaches and spiders. 

“We are fundamentally interested in understanding why animals are the way they are,” said Jayaram, “and how we can build bioinspired robots that can address social needs, like search and rescue, environmental monitoring or even use them during surgery.” 

The toolkits will give middle school students a chance to combine biology and robotics in their own ways. The kits will feature origami-based foldable body and appendage designs that are inspired by a variety of insects, such as cockroach legs, ladybug wings or mantis claws. 

After combining and rearranging parts to make their own unique bug, the students will use Python/Arduino-compatible open-source electronics to drive the robot and its biologically inspired sensors. Also, the students will have a Chromebook-compatible app to program, communicate and play with their designs. 

While building and interacting with their robot bugs, students will probe the underlying principles of what makes certain species evolutionarily successful and how we could perhaps learn from those insights.

“I love the opportunity to work at the intersection of biology and engineering,” Rose said. "And I hope to co-opt students’ excitement about robots to get them secretly learning about topics as seemingly diverse as physics, physiology, evolution, and the engineering design process.”

By leveraging ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ’s partnership with ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Mesa University, Jayaram and his cohort plan to target an audience in a more rural part of the state to pilot the project. Also, they plan to work with the in Grand Junction, which runs educational and youth camps and served 26,682 learners in 2022 alone. 

“We want our primary audience to be students who don’t have ready access to the exciting science and engineering happening at ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ,” Jayaram said. “That includes students who live away from the urban centers of our state.”

Jayaram also hopes the project can address gender biases in STEM through the way in which it bridges robotics with so many other different disciplines. 

As Jayaram and his cohort pilot “Build a Better Bug,” they plan to collect feedback from both students and teachers. Through photos, student-made videos, interviews and reflection exercises, they will fine-tune the toolkits and accompanying curriculum for future iterations. 

“We are excited to field-test these materials and believe that they will create impactful learning experiences for students,” Jayaram said. 

Jayaram and his collaborators are actively looking for talented undergraduate and graduate students who would like to contribute to the project. If you have experience in computer science and electronics and are interested in education and outreach, don’t hesitate to reach out: Kaushik.jayaram@colorado.edu. 

Off

Inspired by the natural world, Kaushik Jayaram heads up the Animal Inspired Movement and Robotics Laboratory (AIM-RL) at ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder. The group aims to develop robotic devices that benefit and enhance human capabilities in the areas of search and rescue, inspection and maintenance, personal assistance, and environmental monitoring. As an assistant professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jayaram's work is highly interdisciplinary, working at the crossroads of engineering, biomimicry and design.

Off