Trust me, gym rat. Your outrageously badass treadmill workout has nothing on this.
The Pentagon’s far-out research agency, Darpa, has just released a new video of its Cheetah ‘bot — designed to mimic the rapid movements of cheetahs, the speediest animals in nature — absolutely killing it on a laboratory treadmill.
In fact, the ‘bot is running so fast (reaching 18 miles an hour at its peak) that Cheetah actually set a new land speed record, Darpa boasts, for robotic running. The previous record, set in 1989, was a measly 13.1 miles per hour. For comparison’s sake, remember that both of those speeds are much, much faster than any average human jogger. Robo-Cheetah even comes pretty close to trouncing the human world-record holder, Usain Bolt, who clocked an amazing 28 mph during the 100-meter sprint in 2009.
via Wired
March 5, 2012
