Scientists are testing the limits of robotics to replicate life-like movements and features of long-extinct creatures, such as dinosaurs and ancient marine reptiles. According to a Science Robotics report, these high-tech recreations will unravel the most complex forms of evolution by imitating the anatomy and motion of species like the Tyrannosaurus Rex. By doing so, researchers will have insights that were unavailable to them before, revealing the hidden dynamics of ancient life.

 

What is “Paleoinspired Robotics”?

 

Scientists describe the concept of "paleoinspired robotics," a new approach that puts together traditional bioinspired robotics, often replicating a single living species, with evolutionary science. In reality, the concept is based on extinct creatures to determine how certain anatomical alterations may have affected biomechanics and energy expenditure in motion during a specific period, contrary to the normal focus of the traditional bioinspired approaches on the use of living organisms.

Dr. Michael Ishida from the University of Cambridge emphasised how fast modern engineering can be able to replicate what nature does in a million years. “We have these animals that evolution has created over millions and millions of years, but with a couple lines of code or a new 3D-printed leg we can simulate those millions of years of evolution in a single day of engineering effort,” he told The Guardian. Researchers believe that using robotics as a means of re-creating the traits of extinct species can give scientists some unusual insights into the types of pressures and conditions that drove these species to evolve specific anatomies.

 

Studying evolution through robotics

 

With paleoinspired robotics, scientists seek to answer questions about the feasibility of ancient features and how they might have influenced species’ survival and adaptation. Unlike the focused lens of bioinspired robotics, paleoinspired robotics evaluates multiple species across various evolutionary stages, allowing researchers to examine the broad trajectory of evolution and even artificially simulate evolutionary paths.

Dr. Ishida also says that building a model of an ancient fish through robotics can “give us a little bit of insight into what kind of evolutionary pressures, or what kind of mechanics, started to force fish to develop these different anatomies that would be useful on land.” These discoveries may allow the creation of advanced, "paleo-inspired" robots that reflect the unique features of extinct fish and other ancient species.

In this multi-disciplinary area of study, scientists envision having pathways opened to understanding ancient life, simulating for the first time the effects of evolutionary adaptations over the ages. By merging engineering with evolutionary biology, paleo-inspired robotics provides a means of testing theories about past life's mechanics and tracing the pathways that brought them to thrive or lead toward becoming extinct. According to paleontologists, a new kind of robotic companion can give paleontology fresh points of view about some of life's oldest mysteries.