have taken inspiration from certain caterpillars to develop
a rapid mode of locomotion, called ballistic rolling, for use
by caterpillar-like robots. Two videos posted on YouTube show
ballistic rolling in closeup and slow motion.
shows an actual caterpillar displaying this behavior,
followed by a robot mimicking it, and
shows the robot again, in slow motion.
This work is being done at
Tufts Biomimetic Devices Laboratory
Dr. Barry Trimmer,
in conjunction with faculty from Tufts'
Department of Mechanical
An NSF Science Nation video about their work
is featured on
BDL's In the News page,
and there's also a
interview with Dr. Trimmer
on their website. A paper on the subject
(Found on Science Daily, Institute of Physics, Physorg.com, and Make: Online)