Spherical robot with 32 legs could be used to explore planets or in disaster response missions

Scientists have built an amoeba-like robot with 32 individually controlled legs in a bid to find the perfect combination of stability and control. The theory for the unusual robot comes from previous experience with robot building that found a robot with more legs is often easier to control. The robot is called Mochibot and is based on a shape called a rhombic triacontahedron - a polyhedron with 32 vertices and 30 faces made of rhombuses (or rhombi). The ideal shape for an robot that can travel in any direction at any moment is a sphere. However, this shape is flawed because they rely on only a single point of contact with the floor, making the machine unstable.