WALL-E
Our first inspiration comes from the movie, WALL-E. The movie features a dystopian view of the earth in year 2800. WALL-E is left on earth to clean it while human beings are evacuated from the planet on giant starliners due to its uninhabitable environment. We are particularly interested in the stability and resilience of WALL-E which enable it to manouvre around unknown terrain. An advantageous feature of WALL-E is its low centre of mass.
Figure 2: Image of WALL-E (Walt Disney)
Tortoise limbs
Our robot's structure and motion are inspired by tortoises. Tortoises have to bear the load of their own houses yet they are able to move on 4 teeny tiny limbs. Similarly, our goal is to have a stable, untethered structure with legs that serve the dual function of supporting the weight of the robot's body and electronics as well as bringing about directed motion. Thus, we named our robot RoboisE [tortoise robot].
Figure 3: Image of tortoise crawling on 4 stubby limbs