A robotic snail featuring a helmet-like shell that moves via a rolling motion on bulldozer-like tracks has been developed by a team of roboticists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

To develop a robot capable of creating its own 3D space, roboticists designed a snail-like robot featuring a metal shell and a track where it can move around as well as over different terrains. Sitting between the tracks is a retractable suction cup that allows the device to adhere to another snail-like robot.

Source: Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47788-2

The roboticists explained that multiple snail-like robots can be connected using the suction cup to cling to the helmet of the robot ahead of it, thereby creating a train. Additionally, the robots can create structures like stair steps via magnets embedded in the train tracks that enable the other snail-like robots to climb up and over objects. Once the structure is in place, the suction cup is deployed to fortify the structure.

Further, each of the snail-like robots features its own processors, which allows them to work independently or in cooperation with other snail-like robots. When working together, the robots can reportedly communicate with one another to accomplish tasks and to move across gaps collectively,

The roboticists are eyeing the snail-like robots for applications such as field research, search and rescue or as planetary probes used in space missions.

An article detailing the robot, “Snail-inspired robotic swarms: a hybrid connector drives collective adaptation in unstructured outdoor environments,” appears in the journal Nature Communications.