A frisbee-shaped robot could be the future of pollution detection

U.S. olympian Mike Powell made history in 1991 at the summer games in Los Angeles when he leaped over 29-feet in the long jump. Already towering at 6 feet 2 inches, Powell's jump was equivalent to 4.7 times his own height and is still undefeated -- at least, by human beings. In a new paper published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, a team of roboticists has designed a teeny-tiny robot -- only 2.5 inches long and 1.1 grams -- that has achieved a long jump equal to six times its body length. Even more, the robot achieves this Olympic world record-breaking jump without any legs. Instead, the researchers write that it could be the future of deadly pollutant detection in our cities.