derstand how turtles, and other creatures with limbs designed for swimming, evolved to walk on land.
"We are now working with paleontologists on studying what the first animals moving on land were like with more paleontologically realistic robots," Goldman said. "These animals were not moving on concrete, on hard rock, but likely encountered materiallike sand and mud — which can flow and yield upon footsteps —and their limbs were likely flipperlike."
The robots could also help conserve endangered sea turtles.
"The natural beach habitat of hatchling sea turtles is endangered by human activity," Mazouchova said. "Robot modeling can provide us with a tool to test environmental characteristics of the beach and implement efforts for conservation."
Goldman, Mazouchova and Umbanhowar detailed their findings April 24 in the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics.