Reviewed by Lexie CornerOct 24 2024
In a study published in Science Robotics, a research team led by the University of Cambridge explains how "palaeo-inspired robotics" can provide an effective experimental method for exploring how the pectoral and pelvic fins of extinct fish evolved to bear weight on land.
Illustration of palaeo-robots. Image Credit: Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory
One of the most significant milestones in the evolution of life on Earth was the transition from water to land. A team of biologists, paleontologists, and roboticists is now using robots to investigate how, approximately 390 million years ago, the ancestors of modern land animals made the shift from swimming to walking.
Since fossil evidence is limited, we have an incomplete picture of how ancient life made the transition to land. Paleontologists examine ancient fossils for clues about the structure of hip and pelvic joints, but there are limits to what we can learn from fossils alone. That is where robots can come in, helping us fill gaps in the research, particularly when studying major shifts in how vertebrates moved.
Dr. Michael Ishida, Study Lead Author, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Ishida works in the Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory at Cambridge, led by Professor Fumiya Iida. The team draws inspiration from the efficient movements of humans and animals to create energy-efficient robots for various applications.
With funding from the Human Frontier Science Program, the team is developing palaeo-inspired robots, partly by studying fossils of prehistoric fish and modern “walking fish” like mudskippers.
“In the lab, we cannot make a living fish walk differently, and we certainly cannot get a fossil to move, so we are using robots to simulate their anatomy and behavior,” said Ishida.
The team is constructing robotic models of ancient fish skeletons, using mechanical joints that mimic muscles and ligaments. Once completed, the robots will be tested to explore how these prehistoric animals might have moved.
We want to know things like how much energy different walking patterns would have required, or which movements were most efficient. This data can help confirm or challenge existing theories about how these early animals evolved.
Dr. Michael Ishida, Study Lead Author, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
One of the main obstacles in studying extinct species is the absence of complete fossil evidence. Reconstructing the full range of motion for many creatures from this era of Earth's history is difficult because only fragments of their skeletons are known.
Ishida said, “In some cases, we are just guessing how certain bones connected or functioned. That is why robots are so useful; they help us confirm these guesses and provide new evidence to support or rebut them.”
While robots are frequently used to study the movement of living animals, few research teams employ them to investigate extinct species.
“There are only a few groups doing this kind of work. But we think it is a natural fit – robots can provide insights into ancient animals that we simply cannot get from fossils or modern species alone,” said Ishida
To better understand the biomechanics of long-extinct animals, the team hopes that their effort will inspire other scholars to investigate the possibilities of robotics.
We are trying to close the loop between fossil evidence and real-world mechanics. Computer models are obviously incredibly important in this area of research, but since robots are interacting with the real world, they can help us test theories about how these creatures moved, and maybe even why they moved the way they did.
Dr. Michael Ishida, Study Lead Author, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Although the team is still in the early phases of developing its paleo-robots, they expect to see some results in the coming year. The researchers believe that these robotic models could not only advance the understanding of evolutionary biology but also open up new opportunities for collaboration between engineers and scientists from other disciplines.
The study was supported by the Human Frontier Science Program. Fumiya Iida is a fellow at Cambridge's Corpus Christi College, while Michael Ishida serves as a postdoctoral research associate at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
Journal Reference:
Ishida, M., et al. (2024) Paleoinspired robotics as an experimental approach to the history of life. Science Robotics. doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adn1125.