Ever wonder how that creepy cockroach stuck into your tightly closed cabinet? Or when you may be accidentally stepped on one and it doesn't get squished? It just sprints away? UC Berkeley researchers have discovered the secrets of how cockroaches achieve those astounding Houdini-like contortions, appearing or disappearing out of nowhere, able to overt certain death. And they're now using this discovery to build robots with those same extraordinary powers. Putting the American cockroach through a series of obstacle courses, the researchers found that even though its shell or exoskeleton looks stiff, it's actually malleable, allowing the roach to flatten itself, all the way down to just a quarter of its height. The experiments showed these roaches can withstand almost 900 times their body weight, without getting hurt. That's like an average person being crushed by more than 123,000 pounds. Not only that, even in their squished state, the American cockroaches were still able to run super fast, nearly 20 times their body length per second. Inspired by this awesome skill set, the researchers built Cram. A compressible robot with articulated mechanisms. The prototype has a segmented pliable shell. And like the cockroach, Cram is able to sprawl out and run using other parts of its legs instead of its feet. Imagine the possibilities, like sending a swarm of cockroach robots into the tiniest spaces to find disaster survivors. So maybe next time you come across an American cockroach, instead of thinking creepy, you'll think cool.