The Cheetah

The Cheetah robot is the fastest legged robot in the World, surpassing 29 mph, a new land speed record for legged robots. The previous record was 13.1 mph, set in 1989 at MIT.

The Cheetah robot has an articulated back that flexes back and forth on each step, increasing its stride and running speed, much like the animal does. The current version of the Cheetah robot runs on a high-speed treadmill in the laboratory where it is powered by an off-board hydraulic pump and uses a boom-like device to keep it running in the center of the treadmill. The next generation Cheetah robot, WildCat, is designed to operate untethered. WildCat recently entered initial testing and is scheduled for outdoor field testing later in 2013.

Like its predecessors (the AlphaDog and the BlackDog), the WildCat has been developed to carry squad equipment, negotiate terrain, and manoeuvre agilely in hot, cold and wet environments. It is an upgraded version of the cheetah, a high-speed bot that surpassed a speed of 29 mph but was tethered.

WildCat is being funded by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program. The mission is to tap the great potential robots have to enhance human effectiveness in military and other defense missions.