It’s not every day that you see a robotic electric cheetah traipse merrily on the MIT quad and football field, but here you go: the Cheetah, a robot that will be able to run as fast as 30 miles per hour, is now wandering about untethered like Big Dog’s jumpy younger brother.
The Cheetah was made at MIT’s Biomimetics Lab and features a light, powerful collection of electric motors that propels the robot over obstacles and through rough tread with quiet aplomb. It uses something called a High Torque Density Actuator to move the legs quickly and precisely without shattering the metal exoskeleton. The exoskeleton itself actually mimics a cheetah’s real bone structure, making it truly biomimetic.
Because it doesn’t use a gas engine like Big Dog it is surprisingly quiet and looks quite jovial. Luckily it does not come with jaws and teeth as an optional accessory – yet.