Robots: Watch this cockroach robot squirm through a tricky obstacle course

The Omni-Roach robot moves like a cockroach to scale bumps, dodge pillars and wobble through bendy bars, and may become a Mars explorer in the future

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

A cockroach-inspired robot can handle complicated and bumpy terrain. It could be used for surveying earthquake rubble or even other planets.

The robot, called Omni-Roach, has a rounded body, wings that can open and close, curved legs and a tail that can move left to right and up and down. It is around 20 centimetre long and 10 centimetres tall.

Chen Li at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and his team tested the robot in an obstacle course that mimicked the forest floor. Tall beams bent like blades of stiff grass, horizontal bumps emulated fallen twigs and pillars stood …