The union of paleontology and robots has its roots in the more established field of bio-inspired robotics, in which scientists fashion robots based on modern animals. Paleo-roboticists, however, face the added complication of designing robotic systems for which there is no living reference. They work around this limitation by abstracting from the next best option, such as a modern descendant or an incomplete fossil record. To help make sure they're on the right track, they might try to derive general features from modern fauna that radiated from a common ancestor on the evolutionary tree. Or they might turn to good ol' physics to home in on the most plausible ways an animal moved.

Using the fossil and fossilized footprints of a 300-million-year-old animal, scientists from EPFL and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have identified the most likely gaits of extinct animals and designed a robot that can recreate an extinct animal's walk. This study can help researchers better understand how vertebrate locomotion evolved over time. How did vertebrates walk 300 million years ago? Could they already stand upright on their legs? Did they move in a balanced, energy-efficient way?

This undated photo provided by researchers in January 2019 shows the OroBOT, based on an Orobates Pabsti fossil. Scientists have used a nearly 300-million-year old skeleton and preserved ancient footprints to create the moving robot model of prehistoric life. Scientists now have an idea of how an ancient creature likely moved thanks to a nearly 300-million-year-old fossilized skeleton and a set of well-preserved footprints. Studying the ancient fossil and a set of fossilized tracks from a plant-eating creature known as the Orabates pabsti, evolutionary biologist John Nyakatura at Humboldt University in Berlin and robotics expert Kamilo Melo at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne recently created a life-size replica of the animal, which existed before the dinosaurs, scientists say. "We carefully modeled each and every bone," Nyakatura told The Associated Press of the replica.

WASHINGTON - How did the earliest land animals move? Scientists have used a nearly 300-million-year-old fossil skeleton and preserved ancient footprints to create a moving robot model of prehistoric life. Evolutionary biologist John Nyakatura at Humboldt University in Berlin has spent years studying a 290-million-year-old fossil dug up in central Germany's Bromacker quarry in 2000. The four-legged plant-eater lived before the dinosaurs and fascinates scientists "because of its position on the tree of life," said Nyakatura. Researchers believe the creature is a "stem amniote" -- an early land-dwelling animal that later evolved into modern mammals, birds and reptiles.

Evolutionary biologist John Nyakatura at Humboldt University in Berlin has spent years studying a 290-million-year-old fossil dug up in central Germany's Bromacker quarry in 2000. The four-legged plant-eater lived before the dinosaurs and fascinates scientists "because of its position on the tree of life," said Nyakatura. Researchers believe the creature is a "stem amniote" -- an early land-dwelling animal that later evolved into modern mammals, birds and reptiles.