For anyone scared of robots, this just might be too much. According to Discovery News on Oct. 4, Boston Dynamics has just introduced the WildCat, a robot that can jump and gallop like a horse and it's the fastest four-legged robot in the world that isn't tethered.
An earlier version of the robot was tethered to a treadmill and was unable to hold its own balance, but it could run up to speeds of 27 miles per hour. The WildCat can only reach 16 mph but it can keep itself upright. Like other versions of robots released by Boston Dynamics, the WildCat runs on a gasoline engine.
The company just released a video of the WildCat in motion, which honestly looks pretty freaky. Around the 1-minute mark, the video slows down to demonstrate how the leg movements replicate a horse’s almost exactly. It’s eerie to see something making as much noise as a motorcycle move with that much fluidity. Then there’s also the fact that it can run faster than most humans. Shudder. At least we’d hear it coming.
Discovery notes that the function of the robot would be to serve as a kind of drone that could run alongside vehicles without a need for a road. Boston Dynamics works with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to find replacements for some vehicles.
