Jollbot – Jumps like a grasshopper, stings like a bee

Jumping over hurdles and rolling through better surfaces is daunting. Similarly, maneuvering over on the lunar and extraterrestrial surfaces is equally challenging for the bots and machines alike. Making robots with ability to move about efficiently in all terrains is expensive and cumbersome, therefore Jollbot is a great introduction here. Created by Rhodri Armour, a PhD student from the University of Bath, the Jollbot is a robot that can jump like a grasshopper and roll like a ball. (w/Video)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osGZzOdInho[/youtube]

Jollbot is an improvement over the bots with legs and wheels, as the former are expensive to create, and the latter have limitations in obstacle handling. The small and flexible robot is shaped like a spherical cage, capable of rolling in any direction, drawing jumping power from the energy stored by squashing its spherical cage so that the bot can jump half a meter high. Weighing less than a kg, the Jollbot is made in printing plastic using RepRap. Given its ability to jump and roll through obstacles, Jollbot could be used for space exploration or land survey work in the future.

Via Gizmowatch