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A new robot dubbed Salto, by scientists, for its vertical jumping agility, is shown in Berkeley, California, U.S. November 17, 2016. An agile jumping robot that was inspired by some of the animal world’s best leapers could one day help in rescue efforts after earthquakes or building collapses, U.S. scientists said Tuesday. Known as Salto, the 10-inch (26-cm) robot can jump higher than a bullfrog and almost as high as a bush baby, a small primate found in Africa. The robot can jump up to a meter in less than a second, according to the report in the journal Science Robotics. That is better than a human but not the highest of any robot – other machines have been made that can jump more than 3 meters in a single leap. But Salto does hold the crown in vertical jumping agility, which researchers define as the ratio of the maximum jump height to the time it takes to complete one jump. Salto can achieve a vertical jumping agility of 1.75 meters per second, the highest such ratio of any robot to date. It also attains 78 percent of a bush baby’s vertical jumping agility, said the report. Salto, which stands for “saltatorial locomotion on terrain obstacles,” weighs just 3.5 ounces (100 grams). The one-legged robot can jump from the floor, flip forward and then kick off the wall, reaching even greater heights. The single-legged prototype was developed for lab experimentation and is not ready for real-world use. Battery life is also a problem. The battery takes up 17 percent of the robot’s mass, letting it function for only a couple minutes at a time. (Photo by Stephen McNally/Reuters/University of California)
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