Okay, so it’s not really Apple news, but — honestly — who could complain about a robot cheetah on a Friday afternoon?
Given Google’s disappointing lack of killer robots at its oddly boring I/O keynote yesterday, MIT has fortunately stepped up to the plate by unleashing a new video of its metallic quadruped autonomously leaping hurdles like some kind of horse Terminator.
Check out the video below. Then start running.
The DARPA-funded robot leaps by using a laser distance sensor to perceive its environment, while an algorithm establishes the necessary “leg thrusts” to leap the obstacle in front of it.
Now someone just needs to combine this with the drone which eats bio-matter to power itself, and we’ll be officially terrified.
Via: Engadget
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
3 responses to “This robot leaps hurdles like a Terminator horse”
Alert the media! Cult of Mac has acknowledged a NON-MAC story on their website!
One day one of these things will chase down one of our decedents, looking more like a spider jaguar. These things freak me out.
Oh my God, drones powered by bio matter and a running leaping robot, combine them and we have a death machine- runs, flies and eats people!! Even Michael Bay couldn’t imagine this! Only an Autobot Megan Fox can save us