“Roaches are speedy, agile, and nearly indestructible—which is why engineers are so interested in them.

University of California, Berkeley scientists have been working on a cockroach-inspired DASH robot since 2009. The robot’s six legs function like oars, helping it run five feet per second and scramble over obstacles. DASH can also withstand falls that would break almost any other robot. Recent improvements on DASH include mimicking a roach’s ability to disappear over edges and run along the underside of a surface—a maneuver called the ‘ledge flip.'”

Read the full story: Why Scientists Want to Study Robot Roaches – The Daily Beast