The Biologically Inspired Multifunctional Dynamic Robotics (BIODYNOTICS) is a thrust area of the Defense Sciences Office. It aims to explore the following areas:
1. Dynamic Mobility - Biologically inspired appendages to demonstrate multifunctional, dynamic, energy efficient and autonomous locomotion to enable revolutionary mobility capabilities such as running over multiple terrains, climbing (trees, cliffs, cave walls), jumping and leaping, and manipulating the world with an appendage in tasks such as grasping and digging. The successful exploitation of biological appendages will also enable transitions between environments, e.g., a leg on land used to swim.
2. Behavior - Biological inspirations in animal behavior that will enable the ability to autonomously recognize and navigate in operational environments to perform critical simple and complex capabilities (navigation, terrain following, grazing incidence landings, target location and tracking, plume tracing, and cooperative tasks such as hive and swarm behavior). This activity may incorporate principles derived from biological behaviors of both single and social groups.
3. Integration - The integration of locomotion and behavior to achieve specific bio-inspired objectives, culminating in platform demonstrations that can navigate steep, loose terrain; scale vertical obstacles; and conformally manipulate variably shaped objects.
Biodynotics on DARPA.