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Subscribe to RSSThis DARPA video shows a demonstration of the "Cheetah" robot galloping at speeds of up to 18 mph.
If there's anything scarier than a cheetah coming after you, it would have to be a headless robo-cheetah coming after you at record speed. That nightmare is now a reality, thanks to DARPA's Cheetah robot, whose 18 mph pace has set a land speed record for machines with legs.
The feat, revealed today on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's website, is aimed at developing combat robots that can outrun and evade humans on foot — and a 3:20 mile should just about do it. (The world record for humans is 3:43.) Boston Dynamics has been working on the cheetah-bot as part of DARPA's Maximum Mobility and Manipulation program, or M3.
"This robot is galloping," Boston Dynamics President Marc Raibert told the Boston Globe. "It's the first time we've had a robot that gallops."
The previous record for legged robots was 13.1 mph, set in 1989 by the MIT Leg Lab's stick-figurish Planar Biped robot. For what it's worth, flesh-and-blood cheetahs can still run much faster, zooming at up to 70 mph.
Boston Dynamics' headless Cheetah robot is just one of a menagerie of robots that are designed to take advantage of the biomechanics used by real-life creatures, ranging from fish to hummingbirds to, um, dogs. Boston Dynamics happens to be the same company that's been working on the BigDog and LS3 robots, which are also being developed for military applications (and are just as headlessly scary to behold).
If that's not yet scary enough for you, Boston Dynamics is building a humanlike robot code-named Atlas, which will be capable of walking and jogging upright, squeezing through narrow alleyways and grabbing things with its two robotic arms — once again, without a head.
The company says that in addition to the military applications, the robots can be used for humanitarian purposes such as emergency rescue and disaster response. Sure they can. I bet that's what they said about Skynet, too.
More about biomimetic robots:
- Real fish follow a robotic one
- Robotic bees pop up in swarms
- Pentagon building hummingbird drones
- DARPA wants robot surrogates for soldiers
- A giant robotic octopus might save your life one day
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Skynet, snap!
I want to see it make a kill !!!
Yes. Watch it take down a headless zebra!
lol, exactly Alan!
I see no other purpose for this than wreaking havoc and scaring the ever-loving cr@p out people when these are weaponized.
Heck, all it would take are two blades that would flip out the sides of this thing and they could run through a squad of guys.
Hello Ravage from Transformers
https://www.google.com/search?q=ravage,+transformers&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=wkdVT6f4HMKC0QHivc37DQ&biw=1091&bih=1120&sei=-UdVT4eiDcjj0QH06MztDw
Yikes...wait 'til they get the hang of inline skates!
I can't wait for the RC-toys of this and the robot moths that DARPA's also funding.
Is it just me or is that thing running backwards?
Seeing as it has no head I think it can run whatever direction it wants to and call it forwards.
Agreed.
When I first read the caption to the article, "Headless robot"
I thought...since when does a robot need a head? There's nothing about robot design, even those that mimic the locomotion of animals necessitate that it also have a head. A "head" on a robot is superfluous unless there's a specific function that it carries out.
The article of a "headless robot" could have also read, "scientists not covered in gravy, invent robot that runs similarly to a cheetah" Could the scientists have invented the robot with gravy all over them...perhaps...but in this case they were not covered in gravy
/gravy in my science news? It's more likely than you think!
That machine is just wrong !
.
Are YOU going to be the one to tell it it's running backwards?
Yeah, didn't think so.
That ain't nut'en we got MINDLESS politicians running.......Never mind i wont go there.
But you did go there.... the robots probably are smarter at least as far as common sense.
[country hopelessly in debt]+[positioning for war with iran] = does not compute....
lol, yup, already smarter than most politicians!
Does not compute? Sure it computes, you just get a very big negative number ^_^
1 - 2 = (1)
Awesome! Just absolutely awesome!
Gangsta life
It needs a head, jaws, should be anatomically correct, and named spot for the full effect. If it was sexually functional, Rush Limbaugh would probably endorse it.
I want to see venom filled robo-spiders on the battlefield. - RC
Damn Science! You scary!
Sweet. It only took 23 years to go an extra 5 miles an hour in a straight line.
Don't underestimate the impact of crossing a threshold. Who knows? This could be the symbol of the beginning of escape velocity on the graph.
On even ground. Apparently killer-headless-robot technology advances a little slower than pictures-of-naked-people technology.
hamjam - While it might not go as fast over rough terrain, I'm sure this thing will be able to traverse it just fine. Go to YouTube and look up BigDog by the same company, Boston Dynamics. That thing is impressive.
Big Dog is very impressive. It may not be as fast as this "cheetah", but it can traverse any kind of terrain and if you couldn't hear it's constant robotic buzzing it could be mistaken for an actual animal by the way it moves. Combine that with the speed of this robot and...and... well I for one welcome our robotic overlords!
Except that even from a distance, it would look like a headless cow moving like a cat walking across something sticky
Love the Skynet comment at the end! Had to laugh out loud at that one! Thanks for the humorous touch!
If I wanted a car that galloped, I'd buy a horse.
Oh. 18.5. I thought it was 185. Good work anyway.
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
You know this little toy is going into the military, just wait first level terminator is coming.
I cant wait! They will turn on us and terminate our corrupt political system!
If/When robots take over, they will just install their own faulty drivers and unstable OS's.
Plus, robot politicians are always looking to get their gears greased.
/The more things change, the more they stay the same.
^_^
Did anyone else notice that its not really running "frontwards" under it's own power, its running backwards, meaning that its legs are gaining kinetic energy from the treadmill running, pushing its legs back into the next backwards hop position. .
Still pretty cool, but not as cool as if it was running 18mph on its own, forward without a treadmill .
Ummm, you need to rethink that statement. It isn't 'gaining' any kinetic energy from the treadmill.
Have you ever been on a treadmill?
So you're saying it would be easier to run backwards on a treadmill than forwards?
Where does it gain kinetic energy in the forward direction when the treadmill is moving in the opposite direction and the robot is traversing forward in spite of it except for its forward ambulatory movement?
Draw the forces out.
Treadmill Force →
Robot movement ←
Where is the treadmill ALSO contributing to the robot's forward movement?
If the robot were shut down with the treadmill still on, which way would the robot go?
Conversely, if the treadmill were shut down and the robot left on, which way would the robot go?
I hope that the answers to these questions don't surprise you
i could out run that on foot 18 mph isnt that fast
But can you run 18 mph for multiple miles? Cuz this thing can and will. Like the article says, it will complete a mile in 3 minutes 20 seconds, and the fastest human managed to do it in 3 minutes 45 seconds. So if you're 20 seconds faster than the fastest human, kudos.
you got me there but can it climb on @!$%# and jump over things is the next question
Maybe this cheetah can't, but Big Dog can. If they combine the two that will be one crazy robot.
^ What he said heheh. Will take some time to combine the capabilities of both, but definitely doable. Also keep in mind that this is just the prototype that the public is being allowed to see. What they actually have is probably a generation or two farther along.
"But can you run 18 mph for multiple miles?"
Well this thing can't either. Because it gets it's power from a cable! Let's see how fast and far it goes when it actually has to carry it's power source? It's easy to set 'records' when you can draw unlimited power from an external source and are your design is not burdened by the extra weight. And not just the weight of the source but the weight of the beefed up design need to support and move it. In other words just adding a battery that can power it for any length of time is going to totally change the performance parameters.
I bet a handful of lithium polymer batteries would give that thing some zip. Hell I bet it could run on a little nitro engine they use for 1/8th scale RC trucks and buggies. Those are about the same size and can really launch.
Gas powered cheetah - awesome!
radagast, yeah for about as long as an RC vehicle. And it will take more then a couple LiPos. A useful robot has to run for more then the average 10 minutes that an RC vehicle can. And gas power still needs to be turned into electricity to run servos. You can go with a gas/generator and get some endurance but relatively, it much heavier. We are a long way from what nature can do and even a real cheetah can't maintain speed for very long.
But at least we will have all these control algorithms in place when the power source does come along.
I think we're probably about 30 years out from a robot that can run faster than 30mph and perform parkour
At that point, we're all screwed and the thought of a "terminator" that has the grace and subtlety of an Abrams Tank will seem as archaic as a Jules Verne story.
/we will need the terminators to combat the zombie apocalypse
//how do we stop the terminators? Make them solar powered and then block out the sun when the terminators rise up
///nothing should go wrong after that
////why does this all sound so familiar?
.
once again, without a head. LOL that sounds terrifying and hilarious at the same time. But really what could a robotic headless cheetah do to you any way, i mean it cant bite or head butt. They dont explain why its running backwards though, and it is easy to outrun something running backwards, you just run forwards.
It's a test bed, it doesn't need a head. Imagine combining this with advanced sensors and autonomy. This thing could easily be given guns. As for running backwards - no it isn't. It's running in the direction it was designed to run in - it just has funny legs. If you really wanted to outrun it - go zigzag - it doesn't seem like it turns too well yet. Of course I'm sure that's next.
This is the precursor to robotic military dogs that will be used to flush hidden enemies out of their positions. Imagine a pack of these, each carrying a tactical machine gun or other small arms working in concert to hunt people, completely unafraid and armored. Probably good not to piss off America in the future!
With no head, how does it eat?
<;-(
>:-p
Boy - we are SO FAR from mechs.
I wouldn't say that... have you seen the videos of the exoskeletons being developed for the Army? Here's a vid of one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hkCcoenLW4&feature=related
If someone shelled out the money, I really don't see it being much of a stretch to apply the same tech to make a large mech-warrior type exoskeleton.
Again, add an on-board power source and much of the performance now goes to just moving that source. An exoskeleton is not going to be much use if it has to stay plugged into the wall.
Well, if we had spent the last 50 years working on power sources other then oil, maybe we would have a power souce small enough and light enough and powerful enough to cut this guys cables.
I think we'll have mechs closer to Evangelion in terms of an external power source before we go all Mechwarrior in the 26th century
We could just have these mechs running from an extension cord attached to a Stryker IFV's turbine engine. I imagine it being like a Stryker with a dump-truck style truck bed and a mech strapped into it, manned/remote and ready for fast-deployment into the warzone. The striker could also pull double-duty as fire support and maybe also be outfitted with deployable ablative shielding that the mech can utilize on the fly, sort of like a mobile riot-shield on wheels.
I wonder how much it weighs because it will effect the speed compared to real life cheetah
thats actually kind of scary when you really think about it, one day we will regret we ever made a "robot" but it's to late now the wheels are already in motion. you children we see what I mean one day when every "free" citizen is held under home arrest by there "robomaid" because some lunatic is running the streets or something stupid like that "it's for your own safety" watch and see kiddies.......
Instead of pepper spray the cops will just unleash their autonomous cheetah-bots to charge the protesters. They'll be armed with stun guns, pepper spray, tear gas and they will chase you down. They will have aerial support from squadrons of little quadra-copters. Less than lethal! (Think I'd rather be shot!)
It all started with Cyberdyne Systems making defense vehicles and robots for the United States Armed Forces... All that is left is for Skynet to become self aware.
Where is John Connor!!!?!?! :P
John Conner changed his name and moved to Mars. (why do I mix my sci-fi?)
It's ok, we'll remember it for you wholesale!
Until it breaks 70mph over rough terrain with no wires I will not be impressed.
It's not 'running backwards' -- the head end is to the left. Still, I am not impressed. How much time, money, and effort is being wasted on this project while there are so many more basic, pressing needs in the world, like food and clean water and basic health care for everyone???
Go do that stuff then. Besides, who knows what these guys do on their weekends? For all you know they do Habitat for Humanity et. al. So get down off your high horse and YOU do what YOU want.
Hmm, the robot is being developed by a company that PAYS people so they can feed their families. They buy parts from suppliers that PAY their employees so they can provide shelter for their families. The suppliers buy products from manufacturers that PAY their employees so they can provice insurance and healthcare for their families. Etc. Etc.
Should this company quit working on research and lay all their employees off? How will that effect the suppliers? Will they also have to lay people off due the decreased sales? What about the corner deli where a lot of these people probably eat lunch 3 or 4 times a week?
Does anyone really understand economics? Why do people think we can just divert money from research or space or whatever and just give it to poor nations and everything will be all better?
The robot was running backwards so no worries.
How does this help humanity again?
Robo-Cheata-Cop?
Robo-Cheata-Soldier?
Fill me in.
Yeah, it's pretty silly. Kinda like when they were putting up those new fangled power lines to put electricity into everyone's homes. That didn't help humanity much either.
Or that trinket the Wright brothers were working on. What was it? Something silly, I'm sure, that wouldn't benefit humanity at all.
Why don't these people keep their ideas to themselves?