> “It’s interesting we never see birds or insects doing this hybrid walking flying locomotion.” it’s energetically too expensive for basically no benefit (in d

> “It’s interesting we never see birds or insects doing this hybrid walking flying locomotion.” it’s energetically too expensive for basically no benefit (in daily life), so that’s why it’s limited to escape situations where the mortal danger outweighs energetic cost. this robot is also impractical beyond its research value for the same reason, too energetically costly. it’s too energetically costly because it’s constantly actively actuated, with two different sets of locomotors needing coordination on top of that, to achieve dynamic stability. animals rely on passive dynamic stability (akin to springs and dampers) to conserve energy and extend actuation time/efficiency (due to evolutionary pressure).