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This Robot Jumps As High As Grasshopper & That's In Just 15 Milliseconds

Imagine a tiny robot that can leap more than 100 times its own height, switch between hopping and jumping at will, and even spring out of the water in milliseconds—all without rigid springs or noisy motors. That’s exactly what researchers at Zhejiang University in China have created: an ultrafast, magnetically driven soft robot that mimics nature’s best jumpers and could revolutionize how robots move in challenging environments.

Why Jumping Matters in Nature—and Robotics

From frogs launching themselves away from predators to grasshoppers vaulting over tall grass, jumping is one of nature’s most versatile survival skills. It lets animals:

  • Escape danger in a split second

  • Cross obstacles like rocks, plants, or streams

  • Reach high perches or food sources

  • Travel quickly over uneven terrain

In robotics, jumping could provide the same advantages. Imagine a robot leaping over rubble in a disaster zone, skipping over puddles in a chemical spill, or navigating pipes and underwater passages without slowing down.

But there’s a catch—reproducing animal-like jumping in machines is hard. While engineers have built jumping robots before, most can’t match the speed, height, or efficiency of living creatures. They often require bulky actuators, slow energy release, or complex mechanisms prone to damage.

The Limitations of Previous Jumping Robots

Over the past decade, scientists have experimented with many types of jumping robots. Some use:

  • Dielectric elastomers (rubber-like materials that change shape when electrically charged)

  • Liquid crystal elastomers (soft materials that react to heat or light)

  • Pneumatic soft actuators (air-powered movement)

While these approaches work, they often have two main drawbacks:

  1. Slow response times – Energy release is not instantaneous, making takeoff sluggish.

  2. Limited jump performance – They can’t achieve the extreme heights or speeds animals reach.

As a result, most soft jumpers can’t compete with nature’s best, especially in tasks that require quick bursts of motion.

A New Leap Forward: The Magnetically Driven Bistable Soft Jumper

Researchers led by Daofan Tang and Chengqian Zhang took a completely new approach. Their robot uses magnetism and bistability to store and release energy in a lightning-fast motion.

What Is Bistability?

Bistability means the robot’s body can rest in two stable positions—like a bent bowstring before release and a straight bow after firing an arrow. This allows the robot to store a lot of elastic energy and release it almost instantly, just like a snapping spring.

When a magnetic field is applied, the robot quickly switches from one stable state to the other in less than 15 milliseconds—far faster than most previous designs.

Record-Breaking Performance

In tests, the robot achieved:

  • Over 108 body heights in a single jump

  • Takeoff velocity exceeding 2 meters per second

  • Two modes of motion: high-energy jumps and lower-energy hops

  • Omnidirectional jumping—in any direction, with adjustable distance and height

For perspective, if a 6-foot-tall human could match 108 body heights, they’d jump higher than a 60-story building in one bound.

Design and How It Works

The jumper is made from soft, elastic materials that resist damage on impact—important for repeated high-speed landings. Its structure is carefully engineered to work with the magnetic drive system:

  1. Energy Storage – The robot’s body flexes into its “loaded” state.

  2. Magnetic Trigger – An external magnetic field changes shape or position of embedded magnetic components.

  3. Snap-Through Release – The stored elastic energy is unleashed in an explosive motion.

  4. Flight – The robot launches into the air, hopping or jumping depending on the magnetic input.

The researchers tested different sizes of jumpers and found something interesting:

  • Larger jumpers reached higher jumps because air resistance affected them less.

  • However, takeoff speed stayed similar across sizes, meaning the mechanism’s power output was consistent.

Two Modes: Jumping and Hopping

The robot isn’t just a one-trick pony. By adjusting the strength and duration of the magnetic field, it can switch between:

  • Jumping mode – For maximum height and distance

  • Hopping mode – For rapid, repeated small jumps over obstacles

This adaptability means it can conserve energy when needed or unleash full power to overcome big challenges.

Real-World Testing: Pipes, Water, and Amphibious Terrain

To show the robot’s potential, the team tested it in a realistic pipeline scenario—something many inspection or maintenance robots struggle with. The tests included:

  • Hopping through a narrow tube – Perfect for cramped industrial spaces.

  • Jumping through a U-shaped pipeline – Demonstrating agility in confined turns.

  • Leaping from underwater to above water – Useful for amphibious missions like cleaning water systems.

In every case, the robot performed remarkably well, maintaining speed, stability, and control.

Why Magnetically Driven Jumpers Could Change Robotics

This design solves many problems faced by previous soft robots:

  • Speed – Sub-15 millisecond reaction time matches the reflexes of small animals.

  • Durability – Soft materials survive repeated impacts without damage.

  • Control – Direction, height, and style of jump can be fine-tuned in real time.

  • Versatility – Works on land, in water, and in complex confined spaces.

Potential applications include:

  • Pipeline inspection and cleaning

  • Search and rescue in collapsed buildings or rough terrain

  • Environmental monitoring in wetlands or flooded areas

  • Exploration of hazardous or inaccessible locations

From Nature to Engineering: Biomimicry at Work

Nature’s best jumpers—like fleas, grasshoppers, and frogs—use elastic energy storage to power their leaps. This robot mirrors that principle but swaps biological tendons for synthetic materials and replaces muscle power with magnetic triggers.

It’s a great example of biomimicry, where engineers study natural designs and adapt them for human use. The difference here is that the robot surpasses many biological jumpers in both scale and control.

Challenges and Next Steps

While the robot’s performance is impressive, the team acknowledges there’s more work ahead:

  • Power supply – Currently, it relies on an external magnetic field; a self-contained system could make it fully autonomous.

  • Miniaturization – Making smaller versions could enable swarms of jumpers for collaborative tasks.

  • Energy efficiency – Optimizing materials and design could allow longer operational times.

Future designs might integrate sensors, cameras, or environmental detectors, turning the robot into a mobile data-gathering platform.

The Big Picture

This breakthrough is part of a growing trend in robotics toward soft, adaptable machines. Instead of rigid frames and complex joints, these robots use flexible structures that can interact safely with humans, survive impacts, and adapt to unpredictable environments.

By combining soft robotics with magnetic actuation and bistable energy storage, the Zhejiang University team has created one of the most capable jumping robots to date.

Conclusion

From grasshoppers to kangaroos, nature has perfected the art of jumping over millions of years. Now, engineers are catching up. This magnetically driven, bistable soft jumper doesn’t just mimic animal agility—it pushes it further, with lightning-fast takeoffs, extreme jump heights, and versatile movement in any direction.

In the near future, robots like this could explore hazardous sites, inspect underwater infrastructure, or even assist in disaster recovery. And just like their animal counterparts, they’ll do it with speed, precision, and an impressive leap.

Reference:
Daofan Tang et al, Bistable soft jumper capable of fast response and high takeoff velocity, Science Robotics (2024). DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adm8484.

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