Robotic Cheetah Will Leave You in the Dust

[WMDogma]

Robotic Cheetah Will Leave You in the Dust

DARPA's latest robotic invention is the fastest thing on mechanical legs.

DARPA, the wing of the Pentagon responsible for researching crazy new technology, has once again created something incredibly amazing and slightly horrifying at the same time. Its latest invention is a robot designed after the worlds fastest land animal, the Cheetah, and is capable of reaching speeds close to 18 miles per hour.

Built by Boston Dynamics, the Cheetah robot is so fast that its top speed sets a new land speed record in the not-so-famous sport of robotic track and field, a record DARPA claims has not been broken since 1989. And while 18 miles per hour may not sound too impressive at first, in comparison, the average human can run about 14 mph (give or take a few miles), and the fastest human alive, Usain Bolt [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usain_Bolt], was once clocked sprinting at nearly 28 mph in 2009.

DARPA's kept quiet over what kind of military or civilian applications the Cheetah bot's being designed for, but believes that its high speeds and flexible design would make it ideal for "emergency response, firefighting, advanced agriculture and vehicular travel. Though, to be honest, I'm unsure how exactly a lightning-fast Cheetah killbot would be useful in farming corn.

DARPA's next plan for this impressive piece of technology will be a "free-running" exercise to see how well the Cheetah 'bot will do untethered and on more open ground.

Source: Wired [http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/03/darpa-cheetah/]

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[Kenjitsuka]

Calling this bunch of scrap metal a cheetah is quite a slap in the face of nature's design, which is about ten times better. Let's see it hit 18 (or even 10) in the African Savannah!

 

[KorLeonis]

The only possible application is chasing down slaves fleeing from the Terminator's silicon mines. Judgement Day is upon is, Skynet is clearly building its army.

 

[Maxtro]

Uh, a cheetah can sprint up to 70 mph (114 km/hr) that thing was going 18.

I think it's a tad misnamed.

Hell, an ordinary house cat can run 30 mph.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Great. When the robots do revolt and take over we're all thoroughly fucked since that thing can out run us, thanks science!

[sub]I think that that's actually really cool to be honest, can I have one?[/sub]

 

[Section Crow]

it sounds like a drum beat when it begins to run, quite enthralling...

anyway, it's nice to see a robotic thing move at 18 mph i guess

 

[Scarim Coral]

They better give that thing some padded feet as I do not want to get impaled by the jagged edge when it chase me down! Also I know who to blame when the said scenario had become a reality!

 

[WanderingFool]

Calling this bunch of scrap metal a cheetah is quite a slap in the face of nature's design, which is about ten times better. Let's see it hit 18 (or even 10) in the African Savannah!

Just give them a bit, it will get better...

I mean, isnt Science's motto "Taking what Nature did, and making it better... or damning us all in the process..."

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Uh, a cheetah can sprint up to 70 mph (114 km/hr) that thing was going 18.

I think it's a tad misnamed.

Hell, an ordinary house cat can run 30 mph.

I think you're missing the very vital fact that it's a ROBOT THAT RUNS... and it's definitely faster then me, which makes it terrifying. What's more, it's still a prototype.

OP: These are the same guys who made that totally fucked up Dog robot, which looked more like a spindly AT-AT then a dog.

These guys aren't scientists, they are nightmare forgers.

 

[Leemaster777]

A robotic cheetah? All right! That means we're one step closer to Beast Wars:


Now all we have to do is attach jet boosters to it.

 

[Dragonpit]

That grotesque monstrousity looks familiar...oh, wait. It IS familiar. Dammit, can we please work a bit on the aesthetics as well?

 

[PinkiePyro]

OMG!!kill it with fire

 

[XandNobody]

You see, it will not leave us in the dust, oh no.

All this means is that it will catch up to us, and then use the metallic elements in our beings to better itself while it takes over the world.

I might sound paranoid, but look at the clip at 18mph, look at it.

 

[HateDread]

This is incredibly terrifying. The 18mph clip is nightmare material, and I just watched their 'BigDog' unit run at 5mph, and stabilise itself after being kicked. Crazy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRsrwumQ&feature=relmfu

 

[Antari]

Give it a few years of development and a set of steel jaws and it will make a great christmas gift!