A report by a group of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley has revealed that cockroaches tend to go underside the shelf when gaps are widened.

The team had been conducting a study to look at the way insects like cockroaches sense and cross gaps by using their antennae. During the same, a new fact came out that cockroach uses its hind legs to grab a surface and swings under the ledge.

A high-speed camera was used by the researchers to track the behaviour of cockroaches. The same was followed by filming the behaviour in extremely slow motion. It was then noticed that as the gap widened, cockroaches as well as other creatures like lizards and geckos ran at high speeds, clinging to the ramp’s underside.

An insect-like robot has been developed by the team after reviewing the same with Velcro attached to its rear legs. The robot dubbed DASH (dynamic autonomous sprawled hexapod) is being hoped to discover search-and-rescue droids with animal-like tact.

"The flip demonstrates a principle of how we might make small robots more agile and maneuverable. The robot might be able to do so in the future”, said Robert Full, an integrative biologist.