Engineers Can Use This New Theory To Build Sprinting Robots

This tiny robot was designed to run on legs through gravel.

By studying how legged animals move across loose ground, like sand or gravel, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology were able to design a small robot that can run across these squishy, grainy surfaces with optimal efficiency.

From a practical standpoint this development is important for roboticists and engineers who want to design vehicles, like search-and-rescue robots or future Mars rovers, that can operate at their best speed on off-road environments.

After all, robots are the future.