16 October 2015 Last updated at 16:43 BST
Karen Liu, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, said a falling robot can damage its components and also the people around it.
She said the algorithm could help reduce the impact when a humanoid robot takes a tumble.
She hopes robots will eventually be able to learn how to recover from a fall.
Watch the video to see the algorithm in action when a robot gets pushed over.
Researchers have developed an algorithm to help robots fall more gracefully, to protect them from damage.