Robotic Uses of Tails: Self-Righting

The ability to self-right, meaning return to a preferred orientation for mobility, has been identified as a critical robotic capability by soldiers and law enforcement officials [1]. In nature, self-righting can literally mean the difference between life and death. As such, we endeavor to develop a general framework whereby any given robot can autonomously generate a self-righting path whenever possible given its morphology. Further, we seek to understand the relationship between a robot’s morphology and its ability to self-right, thereby allowing one to design robots that are able to right themselves under a more diverse set of circumstances.