If it looks like a kangaroo and hops like a kangaroo, it could be a sophisticated German robot powered by electric drives and pneumatic pumps.

After two years of research German engineers have unveiled a "bionic kangaroo" which closely emulates the marsupial's unique hop.

Standing about a metre tall and weighing seven kilograms, the robot can reach heights of 40 centimetres and distances of 80 centimetres in a single bound.

And mimicking the animal, it can recycle kinetic energy from one jump to the next via an elastic "Achilles tendon" and compressed air valves.