Researchers Unveil Cockroach-Inspired Robot That Can Fit Into Small Places [Video]

Researchers have unveiled a new kind of robot that's inspired from cockroaches in terms of navigating through very tight spaces.

Cockroaches can get through difficult terrain using a simple system involving the shape of its body and inspired from this, researchers created "veloci-roach."

 "The majority of robots deal with obstacles by avoiding them-often using sensors to map out the environment and heavy computation to plan a safe path to go around obstacles," said lead researcher Chen Li, in an email to CNBC. "This approach has been very successful (for example, Google's self-driving car). However, it does have limitations. First, when the terrain becomes densely cluttered, a clear path cannot be planned because obstacles are just too close to each other."

After researching the mechanism used by cockroaches, scientists made rounded, ellipsoidal shell that imitated the natural body shape of the cockroach and attached it to the top of a small robot. They further noted that the machine was able to roll onto its side and slide past obstacles in small spaces, just as cockroaches.

According to scientists, the design could be useful for designing robots for search-and-rescue missions or precision agriculture as it could let robots move through thick vegetation or rubble without the need for extra sensors or complex navigational programs.

The findings were published in the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics.