Scientists tested a semi-autonomous robot with legs and an arm to see how well it could travel on its own. Julian is a contributor and former staff writer at CNET. He's covered a range of topics, such as tech, crypto travel, sports and commerce. His past work has appeared at print and online publications, including New Mexico Magazine, TV Guide, Mental Floss and NextAdvisor with TIME. On his days off, you can find him at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque watching the ballgame. NASA rovers have revealed fascinating details and close-up images of Mars and the moon, but exploring other planets is slow. Most rovers are remotely controlled from Earth, and their careful, energy-efficient design limits how much ground they can cover. Now,  new research  from the University of Basel, ETH Zurich, and the European Space Agency, published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Space Technologies, examines how robots with legs that can "think" for themselves might help us search a planet's surface much faster.…