Water-Pumping Robot Worms Its Way Over Rugged Coastal Terrain
Assistant Professor Nana Obayashi and Ph.D. student Daniil Filimonov developed WorMa, an amphibious robot capable of crawling across uneven ground, climbing obstacles and swimming by shifting water between its head and tail. Rather than relying on separate propulsion systems for land and water, the robot redistributes its internal mass to adapt to different terrain. The approach could eventually support environmental monitoring or infrastructure inspection in coastal and flood-prone environments where robots must move between land and water.
