Our goal is to develop an autonomous robot that will fit within a two-inch cube and will provide locomotion by walking and jumping. The robot is based-on the kinematics of a cricket. It is actuated by braided pneumatic actuators with compressed air provided by an on-board compressor. The air can be distributed by an array of actuated MEMS valves. A neural network is used to control the robot, and it can be implemented in an analog VLSI circuit. The joint angles can be measured using MEMS joint angle sensors that are based on biological sensors studied in the cricket and other insects.

The monopod hopper described fits into a cube that is 5 cm on a side, is autonomous, and is designed to be statically stable and passively dynamically stable. Hopping is achieved through the excitation of a spring-mass system at its resonant frequency. Simulations were extensively used to finalize the design, before construction of the robot. The hopper, although having no active directional control, is able to climb steps up to 1 mm, travel at a rate of 1.5 body lengths per second for an average of over 225 cm before deviating significantly from its original course, and can operate up to 45 min before depleting the energy stored in the batteries.