RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian state energy company Petrobras has developed a robot to monitor pipeline gas leak.

In a Sunday statement on its website, the Sao Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp) said the device is designed to help Petrobras meet environmental obligation under its license to operate the 420-km pipeline from the Caori region to the Amazoncity of Manaos, most of which runs through jungle.

Rey Robinson Salvi dos Reis, the researcher who coordinated the project, said the robot could float over water and mud and walk on floating vegetation, earth and rock.

Researchers gave it the nickname Chico, after Chico Mendes, an ecologist who died defending the Amazon.

"The challenge was to create a tool that could reach the key spots in the habitat without causing greater harm. We needed a device that could travel this terrain and show us what is in its path," Dos Reis said.

The robot could also be used for public health and environmental research and for transporting goods in the deep Amazon. It can be remotely controlled by radio and uses both solar panels and nickel batteries as a power source.

However, another key challenge it has to solve was guaranteeing a good radio signal in jungle areas where the signal might be blocked, said Dos Reis, adding that a larger version which can carry a crew is being designed.