Someone planning to build something that behaves well, performs tasks autonomously and fits flawlessly into its environment would have a good chance of finding a perfect model somewhere in nature. The scorpion, for example, is an invertebrate creature that can live through searing heat without eating much. It moves omni-directionally, climbs easily over hills, rocks, and sharp objects, and defends itself staunchly. If you could give it marching orders, you could quite possibly create the perfect ground soldier.
Scientists insist that it can be done.
In fact, at Northeastern University in Boston, they have done it. While their creation still doesn't exactly look like a scorpion, it's starting to act more and more like one. Next summer, researchers will take the scorpion to the Mojave desert where it will make its way 25 miles into that desert, and then find its way back to its exact deployment location, a roundtrip journey of 50 miles made completely on its own. The scorpion will be solar-powered in its final form. Great potential exists for Navy operations in the field of biomimetics, such as clandestine reconnaissance surveillance and mine detection.