Dog robots can trek through mud using moose-inspired hooves

Many quadrupedal robots can adeptly handle uneven or sloped terrain, but only if the ground beneath them is relatively stable. Factor in slippery or muddy surroundings and four-legged machines may quickly falter or fail completely. But one engineering team believes they found a solution in mimicking animals often found in boggy habitats. According to a study published in Bioinspiration & Biomimetics by researchers at Estonia's Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), dog bots could soon take their cues from giant moose. "[M]ost robots cannot access a wide range of highly important terrestrial environments, including wetlands, bogs, coastal marshes, river estuaries and fields, which are abundant in nature," explained TalTech biorobotics professor and team lead, Maarja Kruusmaa, in an accompanying statement on January 2nd. Ungulates (split-hooved animals like cattle and moose), however, are evolutionarily equipped to handle these often sticky situations.