Cheetah robot sets new land speed record at 18 mph

A so-called Cheetah robot recently set a new land speed record for legged robots and can ‘run’ up to 18 miles per hour (29 kph), conducted by Boston Dynamics of Waltham, Massachusetts.

As noted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Cheetah robot beat the record set in 1989 with the speed of 13.1 mph (21 kph). According to DARPA, the current version of the Cheetah robot ran on a laboratory treadmill where it was powered by an off-board hydraulic pump, and used a boom-like device to keep it running in the center of the treadmill.

Apparently, the movement of the robot was patterned after those of fast-running animals in nature, the Cheetah; with its running speed being increased by flexing and un-flexing its back on each step, much as the actual animal does.

The Cheetah robot was created by DARPA‘s program called the Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) which aims to create and demonstrate significant scientific and engineering advances in robot mobility and manipulation capabilities.

Nevertheless, DARPA stressed out that M3 program not focused on specific military missions but rather to develop could have a wide range of potential military applications, with testing of a free-running prototype being planned later this year.