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This paper presents a review of recent jumpingrobots including the following; the NASA JPLHopper, the Sandia National Laboratories Hopper,the University of Michigan Monopod Jumper,Kagoshima University Pendulum JumpingMachine, Tokyo Institute of Technology Air-hopper, University of Minnesota Scout robot, CaseWestern Reserve University Jumping MiniWhegsTM, and the Ritsumeikan UniversityDeformable Jumping Robot. The suitability ofjumping motion for travelling over rough terrain isintroduced as well as the possible benefits of ajumping robot over a conventional legged orwheeled robot. The differences between the twotypes of jumping; hopping, and pause-and-leap arementioned. Each of the jumping robots isdescribed and a tabular summary of theperformance and details of each is presented.Using a defined performance metric of jumpheight compared to robot height allows somecomparisons to be made. Using jumpingorganisms as a reference, the relative performanceof robots and animals is mentioned.To maximise jump height and distance, the energyto weight ratio of the jumping device/organismneeds to be maximised. To maximise theperformance metric, then the power to weight ratioshould be maximised. To achieve the maximumpower to weight ratio is it marginally morebeneficial to minimise the mass of the jumpingrobot rather that improve the jump energy capacityof the device.This study is part of the initial work for a PhDdeveloping a jumping robot at the University ofBath.1 Jumping and Rough Terrain A wheeled vehicle is very efficient at covering smoothterrain. However as the terrain becomes rough, thenwalking becomes more effective. But many animals thatcontinually move in rough terrain jump rather than walksince it is more efficient. Very few organisms adopt acontinuous rolling motion over flat surfaces.In general it can be assumed that the smaller themoving object is, the more often it will meet an obstacleof similar size to itself and therefore the more often it willmeet rough terrain. This is called the “Size-GrainHypothesis” (Kaspari, and Weiser, 1999) which is definedas an “increase in environmental rugosity with decreasingbody size”. So a small robot, whether it walks, rolls orjumps will need the ability to cover rough terrain morereadily than a larger robot. Thus jumping becomes morerelevant as the robot gets smaller.