As electronics and their associated mechanical interfaces have become more powerful our approaches to solutions have tended to leverage those capabilities. This has led to some exciting achievements but are these always the best solution. Over time most people would agree that the best solution is the simplest one that gets the job done. Usually that means the solution that takes advantage of natural properties. That might be designing an assemble to utilized Z-axis assembly orientation to take advantage of gravity. In the fluids world it might involve letting water run downhill rather than pump it uphill. But what does this mean in something as complicated as a humanoid robot. Well this week three humanoid robots were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that answer this question. The robots were developed by Cornel University, the University of Michigan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Delft University. These are able to walk using about the same amount of power as a human being where as traditional humanoid robots such as Sony's Asimo have take about 10 times as much power. These new robots accomplish this by taking advantage of momentum and using the forces of nature (momentum and gravity) to their advantage. Inspiration for these designs came for watching the common child's toy that walk down a slope in responce to gravity. So how can you take advantage to the tools that mother nature provides to make your products simpler and more efficient?