One of the most advanced and one of the fastest robots is under development by the US military. The robot called "the cheetah" can run faster than Usain Bolt, can jump for 15 meters or gallops for 15 minutes. This robot is also known as the "Ferrari in the robotic world" and could be used in just 10 years. It was created by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and includes powerful, lightweight motors, advanced electronics that can control all 12 motors and an algorithm that should determine the amount of force in each leg and all that in split second. All of this allows this robot to reach a speed of up to 30mph = 45 kph in a difficult terrain. This project is funded by the US Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The main purpose for creating this robot is that it could be sent in a rescue operations in hazardous or hostile environments which are way too risky for sending a human rescuer.
'When the robot is running, at every step, we calculate the appropriate amount of the force to the legs so that the robot can balance itself,' added MIT research scientist Hae-Won Park.
'In the next 10 years, our goal is we are trying to make this robot to save a life,' said MIT Professor Sangbae Kim.
The sensors inside the robot can measure the angle of the leg and that information is sent to an onboard computer that is also responsible for organizing data form the Inertial Measurment Unit which is alo used for manoeuvre drons. In the explanation of how this robot works, the company says that it is powered by an off-board hydraulic pump and uses a boom-like device to keep it running in the centre of the treadmill. 5 years of designing, testing, tweaking were needed for creating the Robot-cheetah.
it is strong, developed with lightweight components, which make running possible, along with carbon fiber-and-foam sandwich frame that can absorb the forces generated by running and jumping. Each leg of the Robot-cheetah is propelled by three motors that can generate powerful forces at slow speeds. Although the development is all as planned and the robot is fully functional the research team is focused on adding an additional sensors that should make the robot autonomous.