University of California, Berkeley has developed a robotic cockroach, and has christened it ‘The VelociRoACH’. If you come to think of it, it is a very sophisticated name for a creeper. This is no ordinary Roach but way advanced than its organic counterpart.
The VelociRoACH is 4-inch long, six legs, can move up to a speed of 6 miles per hour or 26 body-lengths per second. It moves fast enough to make its legs hit the ground 15 times per second. Three of the 6 legs always stay on ground making a sort of tripod which enables it to stand. While moving on the ground, it at first bumps into any obstacle it encounters and then climbs over it. Although it is already technologically advanced than the other cockroaches found in our houses, the inventor Duncan Haldane is still looking to bring improvements in it. He looks forward to making his mechanical creeper of such material which bounces back to its original shape once it gets damaged or deformed. This will make ‘The VelociRoaCH’ indestructible, i.e. it would not be damaged by someone’s stamping on it. The only thing differentiating it from normal cockroaches now is its color. Once that is done, people seeing this little thing moving around will think of it as a mutated cockroach.
