Robots are becoming increasingly essential for traversing complex environments such as disaster areas, extraterrestrial terrains, and marine environments. Yet, their potential is often limited by mobility and adaptability constraints. In nature, various animals have evolved finely tuned designs and anatomical features that enable efficient locomotion in diverse environments. Sea turtles, for instance, possess specialized flippers that facilitate both longdistance underwater travel and adept maneuvers across a range of coastal terrains. Building on the principles of embodied intelligence and drawing inspiration from sea turtle hatchings, this paper examines the critical interplay between a robot's physical form and its environmental interactions, focusing on how morphological traits and locomotive behaviors affect terrestrial navigation. We present a bio-inspired robotic system and study the impacts of flipper/body morphology and gait patterns on its terrestrial mobility across di-1 verse terrains ranging from sand to rocks. Evaluating key performance metrics such as speed and cost of transport, our experimental results highlight adaptive designs as crucial for multi-terrain robotic mobility to achieve not only speed and efficiency but also the versatility needed to tackle the varied and complex terrains encountered in real-world applications.

Adaptation of morphology in response to varying environments is a crucial feature seen in biological organisms. While some robots emulate adaptability through the use of adaptive body parts, practical implementation of morphological transformations in robotics remains limited. This limitation arises due to the complexity of such transformations, demanding the fusion of advanced materials, control systems, and design approaches. In our paper, we introduce a bioinspired quadruped robot equipped with a laterally undulating spine, designed to adapt its posture specifically for navigating complex terradynamic environments. Leveraging a symmetrical parallelogram mechanism, this robot can alter both height and width, enabling traversal across varied surfaces, collision avoidance, passage through narrow channels, and obstacle negotiation. Additionally, our robot's innovative design strategically positions its center of gravity within its support triangle throughout the gait cycle using lateral undulation, eliminating the need for posture-stabilizing sensors or learning algorithms.