---
title: "This Adorable Bouncing Robot Would Be Terrifying if It Was Huge"
description: "UC Berkeley's Salto robot is fast, agile, and smart — traits that would make the bot terrifying if it weren't less than a foot tall."
date: "2019-05-22"
modified: "2019-05-22"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/bouncing-robot-salto"
categories:
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "robot"
  - "salto"
  - "the digest"
  - "uc berkeley"
---

# This Adorable Bouncing Robot Would Be Terrifying if It Was Huge

![UC Berkeley's Salto robot is fast, agile, and smart — traits that would make the bot terrifying if it weren't less than a foot tall.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/bouncing-robot-salto.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Stephen McNally/UC Berkeley\</em\>*

## Hop Along

Salto might just be the world's cutest robot.

Rather than walk, the bot rapidly bounces around on its single leg like [a Tigger](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJFyz73MRcg>) that just guzzled a case of Mountain Dew. It can nimbly navigate an obstacle course, jumping three times its own height in a single bound and timing its landings to hit a moving target.

In other words, [Salto](<https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/05/21/with-a-hop-a-skip-and-a-jump-high-flying-robot-masters-obstacles-with-ease/>) is fast, agile, and smart — and it'd be terrifying if it weren't less than a foot tall.

https://youtu.be/qFmeHPVtK0o

## Life Saver

Thankfully, the UC Berkeley researchers who've been [developing Salto](<https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~ronf/PAPERS/jyim-icra2019.pdf>) for nearly four years aren't planning to scale the bot up into some kind of super-weapon.

In fact, they see the robot's [diminutive stature](<https://futurism.com/tiny-insect-drone-robot-four-wings>) as one of its primary strengths — and they hope Salto could one day save lives, not threaten them.

"Small robots are really great for a lot of things, like running around in places where larger robots or humans can’t fit," researcher Justin Yim said in a [press release](<https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/05/21/with-a-hop-a-skip-and-a-jump-high-flying-robot-masters-obstacles-with-ease/>). "For example, in a disaster scenario, where people might be trapped under rubble, robots might be really useful at finding the people in a way that is not dangerous to rescuers and might even be faster than rescuers could have done unaided."

**READ MORE:** [With a hop, a skip and a jump, high-flying robot leaps over obstacles with ease](<https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/05/21/with-a-hop-a-skip-and-a-jump-high-flying-robot-masters-obstacles-with-ease/>) \[UC Berkeley\]

**More on small robots:** *[Tiny Spies: This Insect-Like Flying Robot is Smaller Than a Penny](<https://futurism.com/tiny-insect-drone-robot-four-wings>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)