1 Introduction
The design and control of RHex was inspired by recent research in biology1,2-in particular cockroach locomotion. Our research group (at McGill, UC Berkeley, U. Michigan, and recently Carnegie Mellon University) has successful captured some of the key biomimetic functions3 in the simple RHex morphology. This has imbued RHex with outstanding mobility over many types of terrain.4,5 We envision RHex in fire and rescue applications, land mine and bomb disposal, planetary exploration, and military and law enforcement activities. Many terrestrial mission scenarios take place in urban settings with stairs, making stair traversal a critical requirement for mobile robots. Yet, stairs can be challenging obstacles, especially for small robots.