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Robot. AI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Much of the Earth and many surfaces of extraterrestrial bodies are composed of non-cohesive particulate matter. Locomoting on such granular terrain is challenging for common robotic devices, either wheeled or legged. In this work, we discover a robust alternative locomotion mechanism on granular media-generating movement via self-vibration. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this locomotion mechanism, we develop a cube-shaped robot with an embedded vibratory motor and conduct systematic experiments on granular terrains of various particle properties and slopes. We investigate how locomotion changes as a function of vibration frequency\/intensity on such granular terrains. Compared to hard surfaces, we find such a vibratory locomotion mechanism enables the robot to move faster, and more stably on granular surfaces, facilitated by the interaction between the body and surrounding grains. We develop a numerical simulation of a vibrating single cube on granular media, enabling us to justify our hypothesis that the cube achieves locomotion through the oscillations excited at a distance from the cube\u2019s center of mass. The simplicity in structural design and controls of this robotic system indicates that vibratory locomotion can be a valuable alternative way to produce robust locomotion on granular terrains. We further demonstrate that such cube-shaped robots can be used as modular units for vibratory robots with capabilities of maneuverable forward and turning motions, showing potential practical scenarios for robotic systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2024.1298676","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,30]],"date-time":"2024-08-30T08:20:20Z","timestamp":1725006020000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Robust self-propulsion in sand using simply controlled vibrating cubes"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Bangyuan","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tianyu","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Deniz","family":"Kerimoglu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Velin","family":"Kojouharov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"suffix":"III","given":"Frank L.","family":"Hammond","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel I.","family":"Goldman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"327","DOI":"10.1017\/s0022112095004290","article-title":"Instabilities and the formation of bubbles in fluidized beds","volume":"303","author":"Anderson","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. 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