From nature to robots: a comprehensive survey on lizard-inspired robotics for ground and space exploration

Lizards are among the most biomechanically versatile animals, exhibiting a broad range of physical and behavioral adaptations, such as adhesion, agile locomotion, vertical climbing, righting reflexes, and various tail-assisted aerial maneuvers. These features have inspired a growing body of biomimetic technologies spanning robotics, medical devices, and control algorithms. This survey provides a comprehensive overview of lizard-inspired design principles and their applications in engineering systems. Starting from biological foundations, we review key physical and behavioral traits and map them to their engineered analogs, including soft adhesion mechanisms, metaheuristic control algorithms, and multi-modal locomotion systems. Special attention is given to lizard righting strategies in the development of self-righting robotic platforms. The survey also extends to the extraterrestrial relevance of lizard-inspired systems, highlighting studies of lizard behavior under altered gravity conditions. Applications in space robotics are explored through gecko-inspired adhesive grippers, locomotion analogies for planetary rovers, and dynamic parallels between lizard biomechanics and free-floating space manipulators. Despite the growing body of work, a comprehensive synthesis uniting terrestrial and extraterrestrial biomimetic insights has been lacking. This review aims to bridge that gap by mapping the trajectory of lizard-inspired biomechanics from biological foundations to robotic implementations, highlighting key achievements, interdisciplinary linkages, and frontiers for future exploration.