Robotics researchers are increasingly turning to nature for inspiration. Watch a robotic salamander, a water strider robot, mechanical cockroaches and some cool self-configuring robots.

Footage courtesy of: University of Essex, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Carnegie Mellon University, ULB-EPFL, Tokyo Institute of Technology, National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology (AIST).

Read more: http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2007/11/taking-inspiration-from-nature.html