|Emily Palmer and...muse.|
The researchers think non-human creatures are the best models.
So they trained high-speed video cameras on the insects to find out how the wingless bugs can leap 60 times their body length. A human--to do this--would have to jump the length of a football field.
The crickets use their limbs (legs and antennae) to stabilize them. They saw--in slow motion--that this process was sort of like a dance. Beautiful and intricate. On the way "up," they pulled in their limbs to counter air resistance.
We have robots that crawl into small spaces, drones that sail overhead, creepy humanoid ones that lift old people into bed...so why not little jumpy ones?
Check out the video: http://youtu.be/Ua6wauucdOo