Soldier of the Future: this Penn robot can jump and climb [VIDEO]

A team from Penn has designed a robot that can jump, climb and navigate through rugged terrain, the AP reported, making it possibly useful for military search missions or supply transport.

What makes this robot, RHex, different from others that aren’t as limber? For one, it has legs, while other robots have wheels. But, as the AP reported, “…until the latest iteration of RHex, developed by [Penn professor Daniel] Koditschek and fifth-year doctoral student Aaron Johnson, legged robots couldn’t negotiate gaps in terrain any better than robots with wheels.” RHex breaks ground in this respect.

The project, 15 years in the making, was originally funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and is now funded by the U.S. Army.

Watch the robot in action below.

Read the whole AP story on the Washington Post here.