Chinese scientists have developed a robot that could be straight out of the Iron Man movies. The two-legged bot is outfitted with small jet engines that are attached to its feet. Robotics engineers at Guangdong University of Tech's School of Automation in China strapped two duct fans to the robot's feet which allow it to cross wider distances than it would have been able to previously. Robotics engineers at Guangdong University of Tech's School of Automation in China developed a bipedal robot that can cross wide distances, thank to two small jet engines It also solves a major problem commonly experienced by robot developers. Most bipedal robots are only capable of making static movements like walking forward in short, controlled steps.

As you may have noticed, bipedal robots have a tendency to fall over. This often happens when the robots are trying to take a step, because stepping involves balancing on one foot while moving. All steps aren't equal, of course--you've got easy steps, when you're walking slowly across a flat surface, and you've got hard steps, when you're trying to avoid an obstacle by stepping over it or across it. Both robots and humans are constrained in the kinds of steps we're able to take by (among other things) how far we can stick a leg out without falling over. Humans mitigate this to some extent by dynamic walking, also known as constantly falling forward, but for less dynamic (quasi-static) robots, step length puts a significant limitation on the kinds of obstacles they can deal with.