This squirrel-like robot has some serious hops

agile: Able 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.

biology: The study of living things. The scientists who study them are known as biologists.

engineer: A person who uses science and math to solve problems. As a verb, to engineer means to design a device, material or process that will solve some problem or unmet need.

forest: An area of land covered mostly with trees and other woody plants.

journal: (in science) A publication in which scientists share their research findings with experts (and sometimes even the public). Some journals publish papers from all fields of science, technology, engineering and math, while others are specific to a single subject. Peer-reviewed journals are the gold standard: They send all submitted articles to outside experts to be read and critiqued. The goal, here, is to prevent the publication of mistakes, fraud or work that is not novel or convincingly demonstrated.

maneuver: To put something in a desired or necessary position by using one or more skilled movements or procedures.

navigate: To find one’s way through a landscape using visual cues, sensory information (like scents), magnetic information (like an internal compass) or other techniques.

parkour: A term, from the French, for a type of gymnastics-like activity where people soar through an environment by jumping, leaping and scrambling up, around and between walls and other obstacles. Movements tend to be very rapid and fluid. Some may involve vaulting or flipping over railings, stairs or other structures. People may even climb up walls or leap from one wall or fence to some other structure.

plastic: Any of a series of materials that are easily deformable; or synthetic materials that have been made from polymers (long strings of some building-block molecule) that tend to be lightweight, inexpensive and resistant to degradation. (adj.) A material that is able to adapt by changing shape or possibly even changing its function.

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.