The 20-legged, omnidirectional robot has no top or bottom and no left or right. Image: Duke University   Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe at any time. It seems like every week there’s another example of a new robot modeled after a real creature in the animal kingdom. From dogs and bats , to roaches and desert lizards , the natural world is a constant source of inspiration for engineers. But while most robotics researchers use animals as a base for their machine’s movement, an ambitious team of Duke University engineers set out to make something entirely new: a robot whose form factor and movement aren’t derived from biology, but from the universe’s underlying physics.…