Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed some really tiny robots inspired by bugs that can navigate hard-to-reach spaces and tricky environments.

“These robots could be used to access confined areas for imaging or environmental evaluation, take water samples, or perform structural evaluations,” said Junfeng Gao, who led the work as a PhD student in industrial engineering at the Swanson School of Engineering. “Anywhere you want to access confined places—where a bug could go but a person could not—these machines could be useful.”

They created the robots with a curved shape to imitate bugs that jump instead of crawl, like fleas. This will allow the robots to leap to their target without wasting energy.

Can you imagine the possibilities? Where would you use these robots?

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