The transition from water to land is a significant event in the history of life on Earth, and a team of roboticists, palaeontologists, and biologists are using robots to study how ancient fish ancestors transitioned from swimming to walking about 390 million years ago. Writing in the journal Science Robotics, the team from the University of Cambridge is employing ‘palaeo-inspired robotics’ as an experimental approach to study the evolution of pectoral and pelvic fins that helped these ancient creatures support weight on land. Lead author Dr. Michael Ishida explains that while fossil evidence is limited, robots can help fill in the gaps, particularly when studying major shifts in vertebrate movement.
The team, led by Professor Fumiya Iida at Cambridge’s Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory, is developing energy-efficient robots inspired by the movement of animals and humans, with a focus on how walking fish like mudskippers move on land. By studying modern-day walking fish and fossils of extinct fish, the team is creating robotic analogues of ancient fish skeletons with mechanical joints that mimic muscles and ligaments. Through experiments on these robots, the researchers aim to determine how these ancient creatures might have moved, including analyzing energy efficiency in different walking patterns and movements to challenge existing theories about their evolution.
A primary challenge in studying ancient species is the lack of comprehensive fossil records, with many species known only from partial skeletons. Robots play a crucial role in confirming anatomical connections and movements that are otherwise difficult to reconstruct from fossils alone. While robots are commonly used to study movement in living animals, very few research groups are using them to study extinct species. The team hopes their work will encourage other researchers to explore the potential of robotics in studying the biomechanics of long-extinct animals, closing the loop between fossil evidence and real-world mechanics.
The team, funded by the Human Frontier Science Program, is in the early stages of building their palaeo-robots and expects results within the next year. They believe their robot models will not only deepen understanding of evolutionary biology but also open new avenues for collaboration between engineers and researchers in other fields. By combining the fields of robotics, palaeontology, and biology, the team hopes to shed light on how ancient animals evolved and moved, potentially challenging and confirming existing theories in the field. The team’s research also aims to bridge the gap between computer models, fossil evidence, and real-world mechanics to provide a more comprehensive understanding of ancient species’ movements.
In utilizing robots to study ancient fish ancestors’ transition from swimming to walking on land, the research team at the University of Cambridge is pioneering a novel approach to bridge the gap between fossil evidence and real-world mechanics. With a focus on energy-efficient robots inspired by modern-day walking fish and extinct fish fossils, the team aims to shed light on how ancient creatures moved and evolved. By confirming anatomical connections and movement patterns through robotic experiments, the team hopes to challenge and confirm existing theories about the evolution of land animals. This interdisciplinary research combining robotics, palaeontology, and biology has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of how ancient creatures transitioned from water to land, providing valuable insights into evolutionary biology.