Tiny robots face two major hurdles: limited energy and navigating terrain that dwarfs their size. While walking robots perform well on smooth, flat surfaces, they stumble on rough ground. On the other hand, flying robots easily clear obstacles but burn through power quickly just to stay airborne.

Now, researchers at MIT have designed a new kind of robot that combines the best of both worlds—a miniature hopping robot that can traverse challenging environments with agility, stability, and exceptional energy efficiency.

Smaller than a thumb and lighter than a paperclip, this tiny robot features a spring-loaded leg for jumping and four flapping wings for balance and lift. It can leap up to 20 centimeters—four times its own height—and travel laterally at 30 centimeters per second. Despite its size, it easily conquers slippery, uneven, and unstable surfaces like ice, wet glass, soil, and even dynamically tilting platforms.

The key to its performance lies in a clever elastic leg mechanism powered by a compression spring, similar to the click mechanism in a pen. This system stores and releases energy efficiently, propelling the robot upward with minimal power. Once in the air, its soft-actuated wings stabilize and control its orientation for a smooth, targeted landing.

In addition to its physical design, the robot boasts a sophisticated control system that uses data from an external motion-tracking system. An observer algorithm interprets this information and continuously adjusts the robot’s trajectory, ensuring each jump is optimized for speed, direction, and stability.

During flight, the robot follows a ballistic arc, recalculating its landing and adjusting midair using its wings. The control system can tweak takeoff angles and thrust levels based on the surface it’s jumping from. For instance, jumping on grass, which cushions impact and absorbs energy, requires the robot to exert more power to maintain altitude.

Thanks to this smart control and compact design, the robot uses 60% less energy than similar-sized flying robots, yet it can carry payloads up to 10 times its own weight—a major breakthrough for micro-robotics.

The robot’s performance was put to the test across a wide range of terrains: from grass to glass, ice to uneven soil—and it passed each trial with ease. Its low moment of inertia and lightweight build give it extraordinary resilience and agility, making it more resistant to impact than larger robots.

The team even demonstrated its ability to perform acrobatic flips and hop onto a hovering drone without causing damage, showcasing potential for collaborative aerial-ground tasks in the future.

This tiny yet mighty robot redefines what small-scale machines can achieve. Its energy-efficient hopping, robust design, and terrain adaptability make it ideal for a wide array of applications—from environmental monitoring in hard-to-reach places to search-and-rescue missions and collaborative robotic swarms.

With this development, MIT engineers are not just solving long-standing challenges in robotics—they’re reshaping what’s possible when power, precision, and clever design come together in miniature form.

By Impact Lab