The invention of the wheel is credited (arguably) to the early Mesopotamian civilization about 4000 years ago. This is said to have majorly altered the course of human developmental history. Today, some version of the wheel can be seen in almost all walks of life – from vehicles to machinery to even the shape of cheese. One might wonder if the newfound cognitive abilities of pre-historic humans could also have estimated the wheel’s impact on the world.
Nevertheless, the ubiquity and fame of the wheel sometimes also overshadow its most patent shortcomings. Rolling might be the perfect solution for flat terrain but it quickly loses its charm when subjected to even the smallest irregularities. In contrast, legged animals can effortlessly scale the most challenging terrains on the planet. The natural habitat of mountain goats (quadrupeds), the rock-climbing abilities of humans (bipeds), and the wall-climbing abilities of spiders (hexapods) are just a few examples of the excellent rough terrain locomotion abilities of legged animals.
It is hence natural to expect the same level of rough terrain performance from robots. With such advanced capabilities, legged robots can potentially open up completely new application avenues. For instance, they can be used as first respondents in disaster management operations (during earthquakes and floods), as industrial machines or even to survey the environment to a much greater extent. Furthermore, legged robotics also opens up new research avenues in the domains like bio-mimicry, terrain perception, biomechanics, motion planning, control systems etc.
Finally, these robots can also help us understand why the natural world is the way it is. Why did animals on this planet even evolve to have legs? How did this evolution lead to different configurations of legged animals and how do factors like leg number and walking gait affect performance? Can we mimic the natural morphology of animals to obtain similar rough terrain performance? These are some of the questions that I would love to get answered and legged robotics is probably the more interesting path in that direction.
On a more casual note, the idea of developing life-like humanoid/animal-like machines has somehow always remained a hot topic in science fiction. Being one of the best incentives for technological advancement, science fiction has guided tons of modern robotics ideas. Its extremely cool how what was once only a topic of imagination, has now suddenly become reality.
In closing, Tony Stark says the following in the second Avengers movie: “The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded”. This might probably be the first time that I'm disagreeing with the smartest man on Earth. To him, I’d say, "go argue with the T-1000".
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