Ripple bugs’ frilly feet inspired a water-striding robot

agility: Having the ability to move quickly (and pivot as needed) with skill and little apparent effort. Sometimes the term is applied to thinking and project management as well as to athletic pursuits.

barbule: A super-tiny barb.

bug: The slang term for an insect. Sometimes it’s even used to refer to a germ. 

capillary force: A term for a type of attraction that develops between certain types of different materials — such as at the boundary where a liquid and solid meet. It can make water hold onto a solid surface. It’s one of the dominant forces at work on the micro-scale. It can be part of the mechanism that allows some small animals to grip onto things.

fiber: Something whose shape resembles a thread or filament. (in nutrition) Components of many fibrous plant-based foods. These so-called non-digestible fibers tend to come from cellulose, lignin, and pectin — all plant constituents that resist breakdown by the body’s digestive enzymes.

force: Some outside influence that can change the motion of an object, hold objects close to one another, or produce motion or stress in a stationary object.

insect: A type of arthropod that as an adult will have six segmented legs and three body parts: a head, thorax and abdomen. There are hundreds of thousands of insects, which include bees, beetles, flies and moths.

molecule: A group of atoms that represents the smallest possible amount of a chemical compound. Molecules can be made of single types of atoms or of different types. For example, the oxygen in air is made of two bound oxygen atoms (O₂). Water is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H₂O).

muscle: A type of tissue used to produce movement by contracting its cells, known as muscle fibers. Muscle is rich in protein, which is why predatory species seek prey containing lots of this tissue.

robot: A machine that can sense its environment, process information and respond with specific actions. Some robots can act without any human input, while others are guided by a human.

water strider: Any one of a group of insects in the family Gerridae. These insects have small bodies and long legs. They take advantage of surface tension to glide across the surface of water.