Georgia Tech researchers use cockroaches to help robots move better

Georgia Tech researchers have developed a measurement that should help robot-makers improve how much control their bots have over their movement. Their findings appear in the August issue of the journal Nature Communications. It works a bit like this: a cockroach has a highly attuned central nervous system coordinating its movement - as a Georgia Tech article about the research described it, "neurological signals guiding six impeccably evolved legs." A stick bug's legs function more independently, reacting to the environment as it moves. The work was carried out in the lab of Simon Sponberg. It was also featured in IEEE Spectrum.