Hasta La Ideas

Dr. Robert J. Full is a professor at UC Berkeley’s Department of Integrative Biology, and I guarantee that his job title doesn’t prepare you for what he actually does. “My primary interests reside in the area of comparative biomechanics and physiology,” he writes. “[My research program seeks] general design principles for species which have evolved different solutions to the problems of locomotion and activity in general.”

One of those species is that lizard with the bad-ass coloring up above. The Agama lizard, as it’s called, has a very long tail:

Full’s research observed something surprising about how this particular lizard uses its tail, and realized it could be adapted for a wheeled robotic vehicle needing to pull some crazy stunt-type maneuvers. This video will show you what we can’t in photos, and be sure to check out the slow-mo at 0:45. (You’ll also catch a glimpse, at 2:28, of what I consider to be a terrifying cheetah-based robot by DARPA and Boston Dynamics.)

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