Technology

DARPA’s Cheetah Robot Lives Up to Name, Breaks 23-Year-Old Speed Record

The cheetah is the fastest animal on land and its robot equivalent is now no different. The “Cheetah” robot developed by Boston Dynamics and funded by DARPA has set a new speed record for legged robots on land.

Watch it run:

While this 18 mph feat may not seem too fast compared to the mammalian version that gallops up to 75 mph, the research team, according to IEEE Spectrum, is working on speeding Cheetah up in its effort to better understand robot speed:

“While 18 mph is a good start, our goal is to get Cheetah running much faster and outdoors,” said Dr. Alfred Rizzi, technical lead for the Cheetah effort and Chief Robotics Scientist at Boston Dynamics. “We designed the treadmill to go over 50 mph, but we plan to get off the treadmill and into the field as soon as possible. We really want to understand the limits of what is possible for fast-moving robots.”

Boston Dynamics and DARPAs Cheetah Breaks Speed Record for Legged Robots

(Photo: Boston Dynamics)

Boston Dynamics and DARPAs Cheetah Breaks Speed Record for Legged Robots

(Image: Boston Dynamics)

IEEE Spectrum points out that Cheetah mimics the running movement seen in felines, horses and dogs not just by moving its legs but is using its back as well. The robot was developed as part of DARPA’s Maximum Mobility and Manipulation program, which “seeks to create and demonstrate significant scientific and engineering advances in robot mobility and manipulation capabilities”:

The robot’s movements are patterned after those of fast-running animals in nature.  The robot increases its stride and running speed by flexing and un-flexing its back on each step, much as an actual cheetah does.

The previous record for legged robot speed, according to DARPA, was set in 1989 at 13.1 mph. While the current Cheetah prototype runs on a treadmill, DARPA said it expects a free-running version later this year.

IEEE Spectrum suggests military, emergency relief and disaster response as future uses for this type of robot.

Comments (29)

  • hi
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 11:26am

    That’s pathetic as compared to a real cheetah. Consider all of the intellect used to fabricate this machine as compared to the real cheetah that “spontaneously evolved.”

    Report Post » hi  
    • Cesium
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 2:48pm

      Ha! “spontaneously evolved” !!!! http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/oxymoron I love Blaze commentors sometimes…(shaking head)

      Anyway. Imagine that thing coming at you in Afghanistan up a steep rocky path with a minigun attatched

      Report Post »  
    • Loki
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:32pm

      when i see a real cheeta sporting an vulcan mini gun, then you can scoff… lol
      does anyone remember skynet?? :)

      Report Post » Loki  
    • dudironimis
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 4:42pm

      It’s hard to say how fast the machine really goes. It can go up to 18MPH on the treadmill, but your speed is determined by the amount of force you put behind your legs more than the speed that they move. That thing could go 30 or 40 MPH for all we know

      Report Post »  
  • bifgroovey
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:49am

    This board sounds people in Henry Ford’s day making fun of “horseless carriages”. This is AMAZING. the are not trying to modernize a cheetah. It’s not just about running. These innovations are stepping stones to bigger and better things. It’s about having an automated machine move quickly in a controlled way. Many different mechanisms acting and reacting – it is amazing to watch.

    Report Post » bifgroovey  
  • ArtieR
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:30am

    Train exploding pigs…. Train them that the person with the AK47 is the one with the food. Remote detonator….. “I love the smell of Bacon in the morning it smells like victory.”

    Report Post » ArtieR  
  • grannyrecipe
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:46am

    I have a robot that goes 120 mph. In a flash of genius I attached a tire to an electric motors’ shaft and walla!

    Report Post » grannyrecipe  
  • Sheepdog911
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:14am

    So lets see it jump something or not slumble over rocks and things. Nice, but the world isn’t built like a drag strip raceway – long, flat and straight.

    Report Post » Sheepdog911  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 2:33am

    So the latest and greatest scientific 4 legged robot can beat a 23 year old speed record? Doesn’t seem too hard to do; after all, it’s racing against the speed record of something that technology created 23 years ago. This sounds like another socialist commie trick. Look at this! It can do something we were able to do 23 years ago! What a magical feat! Let’s all thank the commie Universities for finally catching up to 1989 technology. Does it run on windmill or solar power? No, it needs good old fashioned electricity. The artist connectional drawing of a cat has nothing to do with the engineering. Just like all the socialist Universities of today. What a joke..

    Report Post » The-Monk  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 2:42am

      Oops, spell check changed “conceptual drawing” to “connectional drawing”. Caught it after I posted. At least it didn’t take 23 years to catch up to my typo!

      Report Post » The-Monk  
  • EndTheFedNOW
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 12:39am

    Just wait until the future when the government does not like what you say, and sends this thing in after you.

    Report Post » EndTheFedNOW  
    • 3monkeysmomma
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 12:13pm

      I was just thinking “Skynet will find that useful!”

      Oh, friend, I think we both must have our tinfoil hats on a bit tight today. :)

      Report Post » 3monkeysmomma  
  • Thomas Paine
    Posted on March 6, 2012 at 11:47pm

    Why is it running backwards?

    Report Post » Thomas Paine  
    • ICRedifURBlue
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 12:22am

      to run forward it would have to extend and retract it’s legs…….not just rock them back and forth…..still kinda cool, don’t see anything practical though…….

      Report Post »  
  • dnewton
    Posted on March 6, 2012 at 11:23pm

    A free running version running on what? Batteries? Out in the wild and on uneven ground, power demand will soar, especially if going uphill. It looks vulnerable to simple countermeasures.

    Report Post »  
  • Skee
    Posted on March 6, 2012 at 10:43pm

    Too bad it couldn’t be used in battle.
    We need more R and D into longer extention cords.

    Report Post » Skee  
  • teebubba
    Posted on March 6, 2012 at 9:40pm

    I am very pro US, believe in American exceptionalism to the “nth” degree etc. The one thing that bothers me is that in all of the great science fiction epics of my life “Star Wars, Some Star Treks, Battlestar Galllactica and the like the real bad guy enemies were always robots wielding state of the art weaponry. So what do we fight with in Afghanistan…..drones and now we are creating foot soldiers that run 18 mph. Are we becoming the bad guys or just doing it ahead of our enemies…….just some thoughts…

    Report Post » teebubba  
    • martinez012577
      Posted on March 6, 2012 at 9:55pm

      We are the bad guys. We are the ones invading countries.

      Report Post » martinez012577  
    • mr.goodvibe
      Posted on March 6, 2012 at 10:15pm

      Martinez-We are the bad guys? We invade countries. AT one time we were the land of the free and now with driveling idiots in charge we are becoming an idiocracy. We are surrounded by Islamic facists, South American Marxists Socialist to the North and across the pond, Communists in the East. Our own President has weakened us finacially and militarily, we are ripe for the picking just how leftists want it. Everyone wants the fruits of free thought and capitalism but are not willing to let go of there control over people. The leftists politicians bash capitalism as unfair as they pass laws and regulations that make it that way for the purpose of making drug filled mental midgets agree that it is a bad system because they do not get housing, education, medication, transporation, abortions or contraceptions for free from the government. Our military men and women put there lives on the line to keep there countrymen safe at home and all they get in return is crap pay and medical benefits along with politicians who openly deride and accuse them of horrendous crimes and throw them to the wolves in foreign lands. Our military is always the first in in a disaster to lend aid, our private citizens always give money and time to help those in need while other countries do nothing. We are not the bad guys, we are the only dim light of humanity in the world. If you don’t like it here leave, no one is stopping you.

      Report Post » mr.goodvibe  
    • V-Forge
      Posted on March 6, 2012 at 10:45pm

      martinez012577
      Us?? the bad Guys?? Yes i assume you have the same ideas as too many i have heard of. So would it be okay to do something about Syria?.. How many people do dictators get to kill before we are no longer invading? You sir are lacking in intellect in a major way. Your the guy that won’t speak out about a kid being molested cause stopping it may make you look like an aggressor. Really man.. Give me the official number of murders that you will tolerate happening in front of you before you would try to stop it. Sorry. Americans are not cowards sir. You are. I’ll thank you to keep your mouth shut about our heroic military while you cower behind them. BTW who’s SSN do you claim to have? I question you as a citizen, a person and your level of morality. Those “Invaders.” are better people than you will ever be.You simply don’t understand what it is to live the life of a real man. Go or return to the shining example of dictatorship you think is better than America. If not your generation then your philosophy certainly never let it go. And you’d dare attack America as you hide under her skirt and damn her for the color of her socks. You absolute bastard.

      Report Post » V-Forge  
    • inblack
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:52am

      It is not so much that we are the bad guys.

      We are more the vigilante. We go around killing people that WE think are the bad guy.

      But then again – it’s not as black and white as our propaganda touting govt would like us to believe. Some of the victims are really the ones that are trying to take over other peoples lives or lands.

      We pick a side, the propaganda starts. We prop up one side with stories of women and children and malign the other showing a one sided view of the violence.

      Then we get involved, spend Millions to Trillions of money stolen from the american people, watch our soldiers get limbs blown off while we kill thousands of “the bad” guys. And then the commie in chief grovels to the enemies we’ve made when one of our soldiers make a simple human mistake.

      The US is arrogant and stupid when it comes to war. We create a fantasy “just cause” and then are miffed when the iraqi people are not our grateful friends.

      Having been “the biggest kid” most of my life, I learned early that you almost never accept a fight and when you step into help someone, it is to break up the fight, not take sides.

      Report Post »  
    • 3monkeysmomma
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 12:18pm

      Typical men! Arguing about “good guys” or “bad guys’.

      Irrelevent. We are the “broke guys” and playing Cowboys and Indians has been a large part of what’s caused it. Nobody needs to attack us. They can wait a few years, walk across the southern border and watch us beg them for food.

      Report Post » 3monkeysmomma  
  • rt elms
    Posted on March 6, 2012 at 9:33pm

    Yeah, but can it bring you a beer and remember to close the refrigerator door?

    Report Post » rt elms  
  • Maxim Crux
    Posted on March 6, 2012 at 9:03pm

    They won’t have any remorse after they blow you up either

    Report Post »  
  • Razorhunters
    Posted on March 6, 2012 at 8:57pm

    add weapons…
    killing machine. only purpose.

    Report Post » Razorhunters  
    • oldguy49
      Posted on March 6, 2012 at 9:44pm

      yep put saddle bags on this sucker with a claymore on each side and send him running into the enemy……………….first dress him as a pig

      Report Post »  
    • Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
      Posted on March 6, 2012 at 11:10pm

      The average Rascal Scooter only goes 10MPH, this is designed to hunt Old people and the obese. Michelle strikes again.

      Report Post » Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra  
  • FLYOVERSTATEIOWA
    Posted on March 6, 2012 at 8:54pm

    Yeah , This is a good choice to spend money on.

    Report Post » FLYOVERSTATEIOWA  
  • Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
    Posted on March 6, 2012 at 8:51pm

    If they can only break its Cheeto addiction, their plans will be complete. Excellent.

    Report Post » Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra  

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