Watch this tiny robot leap

Named SALTO and developed in California, the machine stands just about 10 inches tall, but can jump straight up from a crouch to over three feet high. Not only that, the robotic critter-- made with an eye towards someday helping with search and rescue operations-- can execute a parkour-like move and jump off the ground, then off a wall. Duncan Haldane, first author on a study about the new robot and a PhD candidate at University of California, Berkeley, said his team was inspired to make SALTO after talking with first responders at an urban rescue training site. "Our goal was to have a search and rescue robot small enough to not disturb the rubble further, [and] move quickly across the many kinds of rubble produced by collapsed buildings," he said during a teleconference on Monday. "To do that, it has to be able to jump."