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.
