Mini ‘cheetah’ robot learns to do backflips & withstand kicks… while plotting revenge?

A “virtually indestructible” four-legged robot capable of backflips and righting itself after being knocked over has come out of an MIT lab, and it wants to play with you.

The mini-cheetah is the first quadruped bot to do a backflip – and even if it lands wrong, it can easily scramble to its feet as if nothing ever happened.

MIT’s latest creation is ultra-lightweight – a svelte 9kg – and designed to withstand whatever you can throw at it, which is great, until it becomes sentient and you have to escape.

There’s ample footage of the researchers kicking the bot, which could be not the best idea. There are plans to build ten of the things and loan them out to other labs for more researchers to kick. 

“I want to be able to pick up the robot and toss it, and just have it land on its feet,” lead developer Ben Katz told MIT News.

Developers say it’s perfect to “share and play.” But those ‘bots from that Black Mirror episode probably thought they were “sharing and playing” too.

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