<p>Engineering machines exhibit abundant low-frequency vibrations (about 10Hz), which can offer the energy for movement of passive vibration-driven robotics. However, applications of this kind of robots are limited since they have trouble reacting effectively to these low-frequency vibrations. Therefore, this study proposes a passive vibration-driven robot with a magnetic bistable nonlinear energy sink (MBNES) to improve its ability to respond to low frequency vibration. Dynamic model of the robot is established, and numerical simulations are employed to explore the system’s bistable structure, dynamic response and basin of attraction. The results demonstrate that inter-well oscillation not only enhances the robot’s locomotion speed compared to intra-well patterns, but more importantly, lowers the threshold frequency required for effective motion. Furthermore, a robot prototype is built and experiments are conducted to verify the theoretical results. During the experiments, the prototype’s maximum average velocities are 4.2 cm/s forward and 1.2 cm/s backward at vibration frequencies between 11 and 17 Hz. The required vibration frequency to produce the same velocities is around 30% lower than in previous studies. This study advances the deployment of passive vibration-driven robots by enhancing its ability to respond to low-frequency vibration.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>