Uploaded November 2012 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago
When we send more rovers to dusty terrain on Mars and the moon, sand could still cripple a mission. Now advances in robots capable of navigating waves of sand may make concerns of alien dust storms or sand traps a thing of the past. Built at the University of Pennsylvania and tested at the Georgia Institute of Technology under team leader Daniel Goldman, SandBot is a six-legged robot with curved, C-shaped limbs instead of wheels. SandBot’s limbs spin around like regular wheels but slow down briefly when they strike the ground, allowing it to scoot along loose sand at up to three centimeters per second. The technology behind SandBot will first be deployed on Earth in RespondBot, a search-and-rescue robot built to assist police and fire departments facing situations too risky for humans to enter.
Read the full story at: discovermagazine.com/technology/the-robot-designed-to-master-mars
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When we send more rovers to dusty terrain on Mars and the moon, sand could still cripple a mission. Now advances in robots capable of navigating waves of sand may make concerns of alien dust storms or sand traps a thing of the past. Built at the University of Pennsylvania and tested at the Georgia Institute of Technology under team leader Daniel Goldman, SandBot is a six-legged robot with curved, C-shaped limbs instead of wheels. SandBot’s limbs spin around like regular wheels but slow down briefly when they strike the ground, allowing it to scoot along loose sand at up to three centimeters per second. The technology behind SandBot will first be deployed on Earth in RespondBot, a search-and-rescue robot built to assist police and fire departments facing situations too risky for humans to enter.
Read the full story at: discovermagazine.com/technology/the-robot-designed-to-master-mars
—
ABOUT DISCOVER:
Discover is your source for science that matters, makes sense and is a lot of fun, too.
Visit us at: discovermagazine.com
FOLLOW US:
Facebook: facebook.com/DiscoverMag
Twitter: twitter.com/DiscoverMag
Instagram: instagram.com/discover.magazine
SUPPORT US:
Subscribe to Discover: bit.ly/34seAFT
Sign up for our newsletter: discovermagazine.com/newsletter-signup
My Science Shop: myscienceshop.com
STAY CURIOUS!
