Robotics

Thanks

Centipede type of thing but it need a flexible body as well

There is someone who makes a similar mechanism like this but it uses the anatomy of the cuttlefish. You can see the finished prototype that can also be used in underwater

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVq0adTn0_w&t=6s

Not a promising design, the contact area with the surface is too small.

all "animal" robots have small contact area with surfase (https://www.bostondynamics.com/products/spot). I think this is advantage for example while crossing rocky terrain. Not sure robot surfer will be able to cross sandy terrain and will not start to dig in

Small contact area on a hard flat surface. It would create some interesting harmonics with all those “legs”. However, in the wild on rough terrain it would be quite effective locomotion. The only problem I see is debris getting wound up around the axils.

I would invert this design, notice how all the "legs" come together on the top side, this would equate to a larger contact patch that was better supported and could even support a belt or track drive.

I disagree, These legs coming together in a small area essentially produce a smaller contact area.

Imaging this crawler on very soft ground. Those legs are coming together in a very small area and would work together to compress the ground in a very small area. As opposed to the way it is shown, the legs contact the ground over a larger area thus compacting it less.

The pattern of movement of the legs essentially produce an arc. On the top they produce a very small arc. Like a very small wheel. On the bottom they produce a very large arc. Like a large wheel. What is going to give more contact area: a large or small wheel?

while the area in between the legs is larger, the surface area of the legs themselves remains unchanged.... so unless we add feet or ?

The traction / weight would remain the same.

Literal translation from the book:

"Jerry sat down and looked at Nikki's robot curiously from the side. The zigzag of the left front foot was raised and would indicate twelve o'clock if projected onto the clock face. The next leg in the line showed one hour. The phase of each subsequent curved leg was ahead of the previous one by one hour. The first dozen legs covered a full turn of the hour hand. In total, thirty-seven legs made three turns, forming three waves on each side of the body. The upper part of the waves was smooth, and the lower part, which rested on the floor, was a sharp ridge"

Also found some videos/gif, and someone designed 3d version of robot serfer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9w1XWT8rTk&ab_channel=AlexKumpan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqQP4T3aBbk&ab_channel=AlexKumpan

Surfer can use waves for soft ground and peaks (like insect legs) for rocky terrain for example. For this he must be able to roll over

James Bruton makes amazing things and shows you how he does it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMGVp4BM6tk

Cool, thanks! His design hardly moves, but at the end of the video he showed a version of the surfer with walking legs. Maybe someday he will do it, the video was released only two weeks ago.