MIT scientists demonstrate a group of miniature cheetah robots that can play soccer

According to foreign media The Verge, scientists at MIT’s Bionics Laboratory demonstrated the Mini Cheetah, a mini cheetah robot that can do backflips earlier this year: a lightweight and modular robot that the university has been developing for years Quadruped robot. But scientists at the Biomimicry Lab have now apparently stepped up their development, and they have launched at least nine of these small robots.

Each robot weighs about 20 pounds (or 9 kilograms), is powered by 12 motors, and can reach speeds of six miles per hour (or 2.5 meters per second). As you can see in the video, they are all steered manually using a device similar to an RC controller.

Speaking to IEEE Spectrum earlier this year, Sangbae Kim, director of MIT’s Bionics Laboratory, said the robots have been used to study a variety of problems that require robustness and flexibility. Their modular design allows scientists to replace new parts when they break, and the sturdy construction can withstand impacts and explosions.

“The mini cheetah robot is approaching the perfect size. 20 pounds (9 kilograms) is not too small, but not too big to be dangerous or fragile,” Sangbae said. “We designed machines to absorb shocks, jumps, etc.”

Such quadruped robots are becoming more common as technologies in areas such as battery technology, electric motors, inexpensive sensors and machine vision mature. The most famous example of such a robot is Boston Dynamics’ Spot, which began renting out the robots for industrial and research work in September.

Currently, these robots are mainly used for survey work, and would be cheaper or safer to use than human labor (such as on remote oil rigs). In the future, though, they could be used for other tasks, including package delivery and security patrols.

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