Who: Shashwat Singh
Type: RI Thesis Proposal
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Time: 03:30PM – 05:00PM (ET)
Location: NSH 4305

Zoom link: Here

Title: Extending Robot Mobility Through Mechanical Adaptation

Abstract:

Unstructured terrain presents diverse challenges to robot locomotion, including obstacles, deformable surfaces, and confined passages. Terrain conditions also change with time, as rainfall alters surface traction or shifting debris and rubble block previously traversable terrain. Addressing these challenges requires robots to adapt how they move and interact with their environments. In this thesis, I investigate how mechanical adaptation can extend the mobility of centimeter-scale robots.

First, I study how switching between complementary locomotion modes extends mobility. A springtail-inspired microrobot (2.1 cm long; 0.98 g), combines crawling and jumping using a single actuator to overcome obstacles. TerraSkipper (5.8 cm long; 28 g) uses impulsive skipping to traverse sand and mud where fin-based crawling is ineffective, while the RESCUE Jumper (8.2cm long; 125 g) reuses its wheel actuators to jump onto steps it cannot climb by rolling.

I further examine how physical collaboration extends mobility rather than integrating every capability into a single robot platform. A centimeter-scale RESCUE roller (9 cm long; 100g) couples with other rollers and with a soft growing robot, also known as Vine robot to share strength and power, and improve mobility. In this work, I used RESCUE Rollers to manipulate a Vine robot in a two-dimensional plane, expanding its operational workspace. To extend this capability even further, I propose developing Drone Roller (19.4cm long; 200g), a compact aerial–ground version of the RESCUE Roller that can fly over obstacles it cannot climb and guide the Vine robot in three-dimensional space.

Finally, I study how incorporating an adaptive spine into a robot’s body extends mobility. I designed BaSiL (31 cm long, 240g), a wheeled robot whose tendon-driven beaded spine combines passive compliance with active bending. Actuating the spine in predefined sequences increases the height of steps the robot climbed more than sixfold compared with a rigidly constrained spine. Furthermore, I propose to investigate continuous morphological adaptation using the All Wheel Morph (AWM) robot (48 cm long, 4640g), whose rotating wheels vary continuously in shape between round wheels and leg-like configurations. I will evaluate AWM through controlled laboratory experiments on steps, sand, and mud, along with real-world experiments. These experiments will test whether the optimal morphology varies continuously with terrain conditions or changes abruptly between distinct wheel or leg configurations.

With the proposed work, I aim to understand how robot morphology can be matched to different terrain conditions, explore the benefits and trade-offs of adaptation, and understand design guidelines for improving terrain traversal.

Thesis Committee Members:
Zeynep Temel (Chair)
Sarah Bergbreiter
Aaron Johnson
Pakpong Chirarattananon (University of Toronto)

Draft of the Thesis Proposal Document