In context
In late 2025, humanoid robotics research was pushing toward versatile locomotion for extreme environments, with NASA and other agencies seeking robots capable of navigating diverse planetary terrains. The annual IEEE RAS Humanoids Conference highlighted novel approaches, making this independent, passion-driven project a notable entry in the field.
What was reported
Aditya Sripada, a Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute graduate and senior robotics engineer at Nimble.ai, developed TARS3D, a small modular robot inspired by the fictional TARS from the film Interstellar. The robot features a minimalist frame of oblong cuboids and can both walk and roll, drawing on rimless wheel dynamics. It was a finalist for the Mike Stilman Award at the 24th IEEE RAS Humanoids Conference in Seoul.
Sripada and collaborator Abhishek Warrier combined first-principles physics with reinforcement learning to control the robot's gait, a hybrid approach they say opens new directions for adaptable locomotion. Their paper, “Walking, Rolling, and Beyond: First Principles and RL Locomotion on a TARS-Inspired Robot,” was presented at Humanoids 2025. Seven iterations were needed to achieve stable walking and rolling.
The project began as a personal, unfunded effort. Sripada noted, “There was no lab, no funding, no affiliation, just late nights and weekends and a desire to reconnect with the simple joy of building robots.” He believes TARS3D is the only recreation of TARS that can both walk and roll.
Why it mattered
TARS3D's dual-mode locomotion—walking and rolling—addresses a key challenge in planetary robotics: traversing mixed terrains like rock, dust, and craters. Its minimalist design and hybrid control approach could inform future autonomous exploration and field assistance for NASA missions, demonstrating that innovative robotics can emerge from curiosity-driven experimentation.
“Sometimes, the most meaningful work begins with nothing more than curiosity and the willingness to see where it leads.”
Source: Robotics & Automation News (roboticsandautomationnews.com) · Published 2025-11-07 · “Carnegie Mellon engineer reimagines Interstellar’s TARS robot for Moon and Mars exploration”