We have seen some cheetah robots in the past, but this time around, here is another of such robots, although it will not hail from DARPA or other defense arms, but rather, from the hallowed halls of the MIT itself. Touting a 70-pound “cheetah” robot that was specially designed by MIT researchers, this particular cheetah robot could eventually outpace its animal counterparts where running efficiency is concerned.
Not only that, the researchers realized along the way that the robot itself, which is not too far away from the size and weight of a real cheetah, actually uses energy extremely efficiently, wasting very little of it, where it trots continuously for up to an hour and a half at a speed of 5mph. What makes this particular robot achieve such a streamlined stride? A clever combination of lightweight electric motors that have been set into its shoulders, where it manages to produce high torque without wasting much heat at all. What kind of use would you be able to think of with this MIT-sourced cheetah robot?
Filed in Robot.. Read more about