A robot 'rat' which can scurry through the dark using its plastic whiskers has been made in Bristol.

The Scratchbot can track down objects using its sensory whiskers and has been called a "significant milestone" in the development of animal-inspired artificial intelligence.

It has been developed by researchers from the Bristol Robotics Lab – a partnership between the University of the West of England and Bristol University – jointly with Sheffield University. Researchers believe it could eventually be used to rescue people from burning buildings as it uses sensory feelers rather than vision, which would be much more effective in rescue conditions in dark or smoky rooms.

The Scratchbot (standing for Spatial Cognition and Representation through Active TouCh) technology has been inspired by the use of touch in the animal kingdom.

The robot rat mimics the "sweeping motion" of a real rodent's whiskers to determine the size and shape of the object in front of it.

The Scratchbot was demonstrated to a team of international scientists at Sheffield University last night.

Dr Tony Pipe, of the Bristol Robotics Lab, said: "Active touch sensing is a key focus for those of us looking at biological systems which have implications for robotics research.

"Rats have the ability to operate with damaged whiskers and, in theory, broken whiskers on robots could be easily replaced without affecting the whole robot.

"Future applications for this technology could include using robots underground, under the sea, or in very dusty conditions."