UCLA and University of Michigan · Robot locomotion

UCLA and Michigan build a snap-powered hopping robot

Physical prototypeSeptember 25, 2026

Concept scientific illustration of an11cm-scale frog-like robot with paired elastic rods twisted into loops at the rear, small motor winding the rods and a faint sequential arc showing a hop over a low lab step; avoid a biological frog, no claim of actual prototype — **AI-generated illustration** — Conceptual illustration of a soft elastic-rod hopping robot; not a photograph of the reported prototype or experiment. Created with OpenAI image generation · 1672 × 941 · Illustrative concept, not a photograph of the reported event.

What happened

The team combined computational models with physical tests of bent and twisted elastic rods, then used the resulting design rules to build a 98.2-gram prototype. UCLA reports that it crossed six tested surfaces, reached a peak of 3.21 body lengths per second on wood and swam with added fins. The researchers teleoperated it through a rocky sandbox and separately demonstrated light-sensor steering.

Why it matters

Snap-through mechanics could give small robots stronger bursts of movement without continuously running a high-power motor. The evidence is a controlled research prototype, not an autonomous field deployment or commercial product.

Source checked October 31, 2026. Status describes the evidence in the linked source at the time of review.