Abstract
Most of us can't step on them fast enough, but of cockroaches, engineers at Johns Hopkins say "the pesky critters are excellent role models " - for robotics. Classroom exercises include building obstacle courses for cockroaches and observing how they use their antennae to navigate, even in the dark. Said one student, experienced in trying to build robots that can navigate based on perception, "Every time I looked at the images of the runs, I was in awe of the cockroaches' agility and speed."