Watch these animal-inspired robots find their footing

Want a robot that can navigate the world as easily as an animal? Then you have to design it to move the same way an animal does. This week, students enrolled in the University of Southern California's (USC's) Biologically Inspired Robotics course shared the results of their efforts to mimic animal movements in a robot. In a posted on the university's site, the students' mini robots – with characteristics reminiscent of cats, crabs, and other creatures – shuffle along adorably on their plastic and metal legs. Each bot completed a trek 30-times the length of its body -- the benchmark for success in the undergraduate course.