His point is fair, though. The article describes two types of approaches taken by the roaches. But only shows the "clever" variation, with the angled body.
The main finding was that even when the roaches did not angle their bodies (like the robot in the video) they still managed to transition and scale the wall at roughly the same speed. Which is interesting, because it means their physical forms are just so well adapted they just aim their bodies and run and hope for the best and it usually works out.
So ultimately, it is weird that they didn't compare the rough-and-tumble cockroach approach to the robot video... it's weird that they used the "clever cockroach" video juxtaposed with the "dumb robot" video. Didn't really make a compelling point, did it?
Agreed, it's such a strange decision unless for some reason they requested but didn't receive the "crash into a wall" cockroach video. It's confusing others too: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16373846
The main finding was that even when the roaches did not angle their bodies (like the robot in the video) they still managed to transition and scale the wall at roughly the same speed. Which is interesting, because it means their physical forms are just so well adapted they just aim their bodies and run and hope for the best and it usually works out.
So ultimately, it is weird that they didn't compare the rough-and-tumble cockroach approach to the robot video... it's weird that they used the "clever cockroach" video juxtaposed with the "dumb robot" video. Didn't really make a compelling point, did it?