Now, lizard-like robot that 'swims' through sand

London, June 26 (ANI): Scientists have designed a lizard-like robot that can 'swim' through sand.

The robot, which could help find people trapped in the loose debris resulting from an earthquake, is being called Scincus scincus by Daniel Goldman and Ryan Maladen's team at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

Once the 35-centimetre-long sandfish is submerged, it tucks its limbs into its sides and propels itself forward through a granular medium like sand by wiggling from side to side.

The robot could eventually match the lizard for speed, says Goldman, if more jointed segments are added to make its movements smoother, reports New Scientist.

Howie Choset, a roboticist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, thinks that the physics and the biology-inspired approaches to robot movement will one day meet and "at the intersection will be a deeper understanding of how biology works and how to make robots better". (ANI)