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SnapBot Robots - You Choose Their Legs And They Choose Their Gaits
SnapBot is a spider robot with three different kinds of legs, and many different forms of locomotion, which it figures out for itself based on what legs you allow it to have.
The early version of this idea was the Starfish robot from Josh Bongard, Victor Zykov, and Hod Lipson in 2006: "We demonstrate, both computationally and experimentally, how a legged robot automatically synthesizes a predictive model of its own topology (where and how its body… pic.twitter.com/80VytLRjRd
— Bill Christensen (@Technovelgy) February 28, 2025
We develop a reconfigurable legged robot, named Snapbot, to emulate configuration changes and various styles of legged locomotion. The body of Snapbot houses a microcontroller and a battery for untethered operation. The body also contains connections for communication and power to the modular legs. The legs can be attached to and detached from the body using magnetic mechanical couplings. In the center of this coupling, there is a multi-pin spring-loaded electrical connector that distributes power and transmits data between the controller and leg actuators. The locomotion algorithm is implemented on the microcontroller. The algorithm enables Snapbot to locomote in various configurations with one to six legs by recognizing configuration changes and selecting the locomotion method according to the current configuration. Snapbot will be utilized for further research on legged locomotion.(Via Disney Research)
Although the Disney SnapBot appears to have all of its gaits built-in, I'd reference the robot introspection from 1949 short story Unforeseen, by Roger P. Graham, published by Fantastic Adventures in 1949, in which robots learn to control what they have.
The earliest use of "spider robot" can be found in The Mystery of Element 117, by Milton K. Smith, published by Amazing Stories in 1949.
(Spider Robot from 'The Mystery of Element 117' by Milton K. Smith)It was a robot shaped like a spider. Jerry had built it to act as a bodyguard, and put into it reflexes that would cause it to attack anything that entered the room. When he slept the robot’s reflexes acted and the spider stood guard.
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