SQUIRREL BOT

May 16, 2025

Watch a squirrel for a while, and you’ll have to admire its ability to get around. Engineers will be happy if they can duplicate even part of that agility, like leaping to a small perch and sticking the landing. That’s what scientists at the University of California, Berkeley are working toward with their one-legged Salto robot. They’ve taught it to crouch, stand tall, or windmill its arms (really, a weighted pinwheel) to land upright on narrow perches. It turns out one leg is best for jumping extremely high, even if four would help in trickier terrain. –ScienceDaily, March 19, “Squirrel-Inspired Leaping Robot Can Stick a Landing on a Branch” (Science Robotics)