Cheetah-Bot

All right, the cheetah-bot might not be as fast as the real life animal, nor does it look as gracious. But, it is the fastest legged robot in the world, surpassing an impressive 29 mph (46 km/h). Can you run at that speed? I didn't think so. Although it will take us much longer to imitate animal species like the cheetah, they are the inspiration for a lot of research and developmental robots.

Just as the cheetah has a flexible back when running, the cheetah bot does as well. Because the whole body moves fluidly when running, it is able to reach incredible speeds. The only limitation is that it is still attached to a hydraulic arm to keep balance. It cannot yet run independently and, as you can see in the movie, the robot really struggles with its balance. Unfortunately it is hard to get any more technical information on the cheetah bot, but actually that comes as no surprise is that the U.S. government is very interested in these types of innovations. Why? To obtain world dominance, prepare for an alien invasion, military advantage, who knows?

As the cheetah is so much faster than any human being, it presents a lot of possible applications in the field of war. It can outrun enemies and tackle them without any difficulty, just like an attack dog. But, dogs can be easily defended when they eventually catch up to you. With these robots you stand no chance. Running more than 29 mph? Snapping a robots neck? Enemy forces will have to find a whole new way to fight the U.S. army when similar robots come into play. That’s why these new robots are so valuable. And, as we know, many innovations in business originate from inventions used in the army, so maybe in the future we will be seeing more from the cheetah bot.