New system optimizes the shape of robots for traversing various terrain types

BEGIN ARTICLE PREVIEW: MIT researchers have automated and optimized robot design with a system called RoboGrammar. The system creates arthropod-inspired robots for traversing a variety of terrains. Pictured are several robot designs generated with RoboGrammar. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology So you need a robot that climbs stairs. What shape should that robot be? Should it have two legs, like a person? Or six, like an ant? Choosing the right shape will be vital for your robot’s ability to traverse a particular terrain. And it’s impossible to build and test every potential form. But now an MIT-developed system makes it possible to simulate them and determine which design works best. You start by telling the system, called RoboGrammar, which robot parts are lying around your shop—wheels, joints, etc. You also tell it what terrain your ro