When a dog loses a leg,the animal eventually figures out the best way to get around on three legs.In a short time, the dog learns deal with its physical disability.Now, scientists have developed robots that behave in much the same way.We can find robots everywhere.Robots build cars, play chessand can clean your house. They may someday drive your car, too.Two robots, named Spirit and Opportunity,were sent to Mars on a mission to explore the red planet.Jeff Clune is a computer scientistwith the University of Wyoming.He says robots also help people in natural disasters.Robots are deployed in search and rescue operationsfollowing an earthquake. They may someday also be usedto examine the wreckage of a nuclear accident,like the one in Fukushima, Japan.Mr. Clune says robots can be sent to a lot of places said to be unsafe."The problem is that all of those types of situations and environmentare extremely unpredictable and hostile.And it is very likely that robots and humans in those situations become damaged."He and other scientists are developing technology so that robots will continue operatingafter the first sign of injury.They want the machines to have the ability to make changesand continue performing until they can be repaired.Mr. Clune and researchers in Francehave added one more operation to the skill set of robotsworking under difficult conditions.They say they programmed a hexapod robot,one with six legs, and a robotic arm to learn how to deal with injury.Their findings were reported in the journal "Nature."Mr. Clune said that once the robots become damaged,they use their intuition and knowledge of how their body worksto find a way to deal with the damage.He says the robots are also programmed with child-like curiosity.In other words, they are always asking questions and looking for answers.The whole process takes about a minute for the robots to find a way to overcome damage.Words in This Storyfigure out – v. to solve a problemskill set – n. a number of skills or abilitieshexapod – adj. having six legsintuition – n. knowing or understanding something without any evidence or past experiencecuriosity – n. the desire to learn more about something更多听力请访问51VOA.Com