Boston Dynamics, inventor of a robot pack animal for military service and a robot cheetahthat — while tethered to a power cable on a treadmill — could outpace Usain Bolt, has a new pet to play with.
“The Wildcat is a four-legged robot being developed to run fast on all types of terrain,” Boston Dynamics said in the preamble to their demonstration video. “So far WildCat has run at about 16 mph on flat terrain using bounding and galloping gaits. The video shows WildCat’s best performance so far. WildCat is being developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA’s M3 program.”
At a 16 mile per hour pace, the Wildcat is running a 3 minute, 45 second mile. The human world record mile holder clocked a 3:43 race in 1999.
Last year, DARPA unveiled Cheetah: a robot that could run faster than Usain Bolt. Now, the same team has managed to create a version that doesn't need a power cord, making the electronic beast free to roam wherever it chooses. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
A relative of Cheetah, say hello to WildCat. This robot is based on the same design as Cheetah, but doesn't have the tethered power cable of its predecessor; instead, it has a large—and quite loud!—motor attached to it.
That extra weight does means it can't quite match the pace—Cheetah can reach 28mph, while WildCat can only manage 16mph. But, hey, given that's faster than most of us can run, it's not too bad. And remember, WildCat can keep up that speed for as long as it motor runs, which humans definitely can't.
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