Core77

Most robots have wheels, some have tracks, and this creepy dog one has legs; but Lausanne's Laboratory of Intelligent Systems' robots have, well, little twiggy things.

The Swiss robotics lab looked to nature to design their search-and-rescue 'bot, which can easily traverse rocky and difficult terrain due to its grasshopper- and locust-inspired jumping legs. The two-inch robots can jump eight feet into the air, even while loaded up with miniature sensors and cameras meant to relay your rescue-needing-ass' location back to the S&R guys.

Me, I'd still prefer a Saint Bernard with a little barrel of brandy around his neck, but I'm just old-fashioned like that.

via pop sci