If you want a robot with the performance characteristics of an animal, it shouldn't be too surprising if the result looks a great deal like the animal. This is the case with the DARPA-funded FastRunner, a project led by the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), in partnership with MIT's Robot Locomotion Group. FastRunner's design is patterned on the body design of an ostrich, and seems likely to eventually be able to cover ground equally quickly, if not faster. More detail on the project, including a video simulation, can be found here.