MIT cheetah robot can do back flips and run fast

Robotic animals will not surprise anyone now. Most of all, the developers from Boston Dynamics have succeeded in creating four-legged robots. This company also showed two-legged robots that learned to overcome obstacles, not only to step over them, but even to jump.

But Boston Dynamics has competitors, in particular, developers from MIT. The other day they showed a miniature cheetah robot (it is not very similar to a real cheetah), which they taught not only to move forward, backward, sideways, but also to do back flips. As far as we know, other robots (except for toy ones) do not know how to do this.

The robot moves very fast - twice as fast as a human being. If you drop a robot, even on its back, it will be able to very quickly rise “on its paws”, using a technique that is very similar to the one demonstrated by fallen martial artists. But the most interesting skill of this robot is to jump backwards in the air, the reverse somersault.

The developers claim that the robot is made resistant to external influences. It is strong enough. In addition, even if his jump ends in a puddle, nothing will happen to the mechanism (at least if the puddle is not very deep).


The structure of the robot is modular, which reduces the cost of construction. The mini-cheetah received three servos for each of its paws. They are inexpensive and can be replaced quickly if desired. “You can assemble robot parts like Lego,” said one of its creators.

By the way, the current version can be compared with the prototype from 2013. The difference is striking.


Researchers will show the design features of the device in May at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Now developers are busy creating other four-legged systems. In total, as far as one can judge, there will be 10.

“One of the reasons for creating the robot is the ability to experiment with it, to try different unusual tricks, since the system is quite strong and does not fall apart if you apply external influence to it. If the accident does happen, then the robot can be easily restored, ”said a representative of the development team.

Tests include the development of new algorithms for the "behavior" of the robot, which is able to move very quickly, performing complex maneuvers.

“In the end, I hope we can conduct races with robots, of course, with obstacles, where each team will control its own robot, working on its own algorithm, and we will determine which strategy is more effective,” the developers say.

The creators of the robot are proud that they were able to rethink the design of their animal robots. Previous prototypes were "solid", integrated together. The new "cheetahs" are modular, as already mentioned above. And if the developer wanted to change something in the previous version, he would have to radically change the design. With the “cheetah” everything is simpler - a new part of a different design is installed instead of the old one (for example, it can be manipulators) and that’s all.

Each of the 12 robot motors is small. The size is approximately equal to the size of the lid of the Mason jar. The design of the motor includes a stator, a set of coils that generate a rotating magnetic field; a small controller that sets the current generated by the stator; a rotor with magnets, rotating together with the stator field, creating a torque for lifting or rotating the limb; a gearbox that provides a 6: 1 downshift; a position sensor that measures the angle and orientation of the engine and associated robotic limbs.

The movements of each limb are determined by the work of three servos, that is, the “legs” have three degrees of freedom. All this is easy, so that the robot can make quick movements and perform almost any task of the operator.

Algorithms are being developed for robots that give devices the ability to navigate the terrain and move in one way or another across different types of terrain. A robot can climb and descend stairs, run along soil and stone, move around in a pile of fallen leaves (this moment is shown in the video).

Unfortunately, it is unclear what the power reserve of the robot on a single battery charge.

In the future, the developers plan to improve both the design of the robot and its algorithms, for which "races" will be held with the participation of ten cheetahs at once. During the competition, it will be possible to determine the optimal algorithms and continue to work with them.