02 September 2025 | News
Image Courtesy: Public Domain
As technology advances, researchers are increasingly turning to the natural world for inspiration. In the sixth season premiere of 'Tech for Good', CNN anchor and correspondent Kristie Lu Stout meets the young innovators using the movement and behaviour of animals to inspire the future of robot design.
CNN first visits students at DGIST, one of Korea's leading robotic universities, who are creating robots that mimic animal locomotion. Their bio-inspired robots derive inspiration from animals inhabiting land, sea, and air – including a robotic snake for search and rescue operations, a soft robotic fish to monitor underwater ecosystems, and a remote-controlled bird that could one day carry out aerial surveys. And, after coming up short against the world's fastest quadruped robot last year, Kristie tries her luck again by challenging a robotic tortoise to another foot race!
CNN then visits the UK, where students at the University of Oxford are building tech to study the 'natural algorithms' that govern how hawks move and make decisions while flying at high speeds. CNN spoke with PhD candidate Henry Cerbone from the Oxford Flight Group – a world-leading research team dedicated to the study of winged creatures – to find out how studying birds of prey could one day make robots more efficient. CNN also met with PhD candidate, Davina Thandi, who is exploring how the shape of birds' wings change during flight, aiming to apply these insights to the development of advanced aerial robotics.
Finally, as the world faces growing environmental challenges, students at MIT are developing robotic insects that could one day assist with tasks such as artificial pollination, infrastructure inspection, and environmental monitoring. CNN met with PhD student, Yi-Hsuan "Nemo" Hsiao, who wrote the computer algorithm that controls how each robot flaps its wings, enabling them to hover, fly swiftly, or hop along the ground, allowing them to mimic insect behaviour.
This season also introduces an all-new segment, 'Where Are They Now?', which revisits groundbreaking inventions and technologies featured in previous seasons. CNN takes a fresh look at the 'miller-spinner' technology by Stanford University assistant professor Renee Zhao, originally highlighted in 'Tech for Good' in 2022. Researchers believe this micro robotic spinning device has the potential to significantly improve the treatment of strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms, and other clot-related conditions.
