Because regular cars with round wheels are just too mainstream these days, engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have made a big four-legged robot that runs and jumps like a wild animal. And because the cheetah is the fastest animal on land, that's the name they chose for it.
This unnatural looking machine is the work of the school's Biometrics Lab, built by students to replicate the movement of an animal. It's important for a number of reasons, the most important of which being the that it's electric-powered.
Boston Dynamic also famously built a walking robot like this one and there are others being developed in China and Japan. However, most of them are powered by internal combustion engines combined with hydraulics. Last time we checked, wild animals don't make a sound like a scooter revving.
MIT not only found a way to make an electric motor that's just as powerful as hydraulics, but the Cheetah can also jump over obstacles 33 centimeters in height (13 inches). In tests on an indoor track, the robot was able to reach a speed of 10mph (16 km/h), though MIT researchers estimate it may eventually reach speeds of up to 30 mph (48 km/h), basically as fast as a human sprinter.
A "bouncing" algorithm allows the robot to continue running after its leap, just like the real cheetah does. Doing this completely untethered is something we've never seen before.
Our say: Every Jaguar should come with one of these. Make our in orange and give it a synthesized supercharger sound!
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News