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DARPA's Robo-Cheetah Is Now Faster Than Usain Bolt
pigrabbitbear writes "The Boston Dynamics Cheetah just clocked a 28.3 miles per hour sprint on a treadmill, and it's heading outdoors soon. At that speed, it could edge out the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, in a dead sprint. (Bolt peaked at 27.78 miles per hour in his world-record-setting 100-meter dash back in 2009.) 'To be fair, keep in mind that the Cheetah robot runs on a treadmill without wind drag and has an off-board power supply that it does not carry,' admitted Boston Dynamics in a press release. 'So Bolt is still the superior athlete.' Nevertheless, the team hopes to drop these implements and have a freestanding speed bot by early next year. They're calling that model the WildCat."
RTFS: "has an off-board power supply that it does not carry"
In addition, if you watch the video, the arm prevents the robot from being smashed when it finally trips up at the maximum speed.
Or perhaps they didn't want the robot accidentally hurled into the back wall at 30mph?
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
It's the external power supply and probably holds the com lines kill switches and probably acts as a tether so it doesn't accidentally trample a grad student.
Beware of those who profit off the docile and persecute the unbelievers.
I watched the video a couple of times to try and determine that as well. It looks like the arm is freely moving. My guess is the purpose is to prevent it from flying across the lab and killing somebody when it fails. I’d guess that the power is coming in through the cables at the top.
If they ever make this work I can envision some scary things that could be made with such technology. Killer robots hunting people down seems a little more plausible every day. For now this company has managed, with their previous robot design, to make what is basically a $32 million dollar robotic replacement for a mule.