Some robots are too hard and need to develop a soft side, according to one top scientist.

He’s not referring to their personality, but to their flexibility. It’s so that robots could be used in situations where they can’t be at the moment.

George Whitesides of Harvard University in the US has built a small crawling robot inspired by creatures such as starfish, octopuses and worms. The ‘starbot’ can move along rather like a human hand imitating a spider’s walk.

Traditional robots are hard, solid structures with motors and wires. But these can be unstable and can’t always move over rough ground. Whitesides says his robot could be used for delicate work like surgery, where it could imitate delicate finger movements, or crawl into a disaster zone like Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, where wheels wouldn’t work because of the rubble. The robot is powered by compressed air, which inflates different pockets within its plastic body.

See for yourself how it works by watching the short clip below.