It is surprising to know that how an amoeba can inspire the researchers to come up with an idea of making robots based on them, an innovative form of locomotion inspired by the way amoebas helped to develop robots that get in places other robots can't reach. Roboticists at Virginia Tech have developed a novel form of locomotion for robotics based on the way the single-celled amoeba moves. Differing from other robots, these ones are designed to use their entire outer skin as a means of propulsion. According to Dennis Hong, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech toroidal in shape a bit like an elongated cylindrical doughnut robots of this new breed differ from wheeled, tracked, or legged bots in that they move by continuously turning themselves inside out. This novel type of locomotion is particularly suited to search-and-rescue applications can compress under a collapsed ceiling or between obstacles very easily.

Experiments show that the robots, with their soft, contracting bodies, are able to push themselves through holes with diameters much smaller than their normal width, and because the robots are able to use their entire contact surfaces for traction, they can move over and through very uneven environments with ease.
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