COCKROACHES display a sure-footedness that defies the imagination.
Robert Full at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleague Devin Jindrich put the pests to the test by mounting miniature boosters on their backs, oriented to fire a broadside burst. 鈥淚t was equivalent to a sideways push 10 times their bodyweight,鈥� says Full. But without breaking their stride, the bugs began to compensate within a hundredth of a second (The Journal of Experimental Biology, vol 205, p 2803).
The secret seems to lie in the roach鈥檚 springy legs, which give it stability with little or no need for neural control. Full has already used the insight to build 鈥渄umb鈥� robots that can easily skitter over obstacles.
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