DARPA's Cheetah robot outruns world's fastest human

The world's fastest human is eating this robot's dust.

 

DARPA’s Cheetah robot is not only the fastest legged robot in history, it's also surpassed the human world speed record holder: 2012 Olympics gold medalist Usain Bolt of Jamaica.

 

 

In 2009, Bolt set world record when he reached a peak speed of 27.78 miles per hour for a 20-meter split during a 100-meter dash, according to the International Association of Athletics Federations.

 

Meanwhile, on March 2012, Cheetah set world record for robots at 18 miles per hour. Recently, it clocked at 28.3 miles per hour for a 20-meter split, breaking two world records.

 

However, DARPA’s website said in a press release on Sept.5, “The Cheetah had a slight advantage over Bolt as it ran on a treadmill, the equivalent of a 28.3 mph tail wind.”

 

“But most of the power Cheetah used was to swing and lift its legs fast enough, not to propel itself forward,” the site said.

 

DARPA stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an agency of the United States Department of Defense that develops new technologies for use of the military, from computer networking to robotics.

 

Boston Dynamics, a well-known robot builder, was the company behind Cheetah, with funding from DARPA. According to DARPA’s site, Cheetah, together with other robots in development, is patterned after the fast-running animals in nature.

 

Cheetah’s spine is flexible —just like its feline namesake— which helps it pick up speed. Boston Dynamics said in a statement that they hope that the robot can sprint as fast as 70 miles an hour, like a true cheetah.

 

“Modeling the robot after a cheetah is evocative and inspiring, but our goal is not to copy nature,” said Gill Pratt, DARPA’s program manager.

 

An off-board hydraulic pump powers Cheetah. A boom-like device keeps it running in the center of the treadmill. DARPA also said that Cheetah is being designed to “zigzag to chase and evade.”

 

DARPA said that Cheetah is still being tested and developed under its Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program under Boston Dynamics. It is poised to have a “free-running exercise” next year, but for now Cheetah stays on a treadmill inside a lab.

 

This allows researchers to keep track of its progress, refine algorithms, and maintain its parts, DARPA said.

 

“(What is) DARPA doing with its robotics programs is attempting to understand and engineer into robots certain core capabilities that living organisms have refined over millennia of evolution: efficient locomotion, manipulation of objects and adaptability to environments,” Pratt said.

 

DARPA did not yet specify how they will use Cheetah in actual operations. However, the agency did mention that they need robots to negotiate difficult terrain for emergency response, humanitarian assistance and defense missions.

 

Other rough-terrain robots use wheels and tracks to ride over bumps, DARPA said.

 

“The most difficult terrain demands the use of legs, as legs can step over both high obstacles and deep ditches,” the agency added.

 

However, the agency also said that coordinating mechanical legs is far more difficult than making wheels or rolling tracks.

 

“What we gain through Cheetah and related research efforts are technological building blocks that create possibilities for a whole range of robots suited to future Department of Defense missions,” said Pratt.

 

Other robot up in DARPA’s list include a robo-ostric, also being designed to be a sprinter ‘bot. Something that Bolt should also watch out for, probably.  — TJD, GMA News