[Neo]

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001423.html

Walking, it turns out, requires a zillion tiny calculations to keep balance and avoid obstacles. It's so complex, Darpa notes, that "handcrafting the control laws and parameters" needed for robots to hike "may not even be possible with reasonable effort." So instead, Darpa would like to get the bots to figure out how to walk on their own.