Why, Oh Why, Must We Develop Robots That Run Faster Than I Do?
Why? That's all I want to know. I think that developing a nice, safe, walking robot is good enough. By the time an amiable ASIMO robot can catch up to me, I'll be ready to be culled from the herd.
(Here's the Kaist raptor)
Raptor is a fast-running biped robot developed by MSC Lab, KAIST. It has two under-actuated legs and a tail inspired by velociraptors. The Raptor robot runs at a speed of 46 km/h on a treadmill with off-board power. Tail-assisted pitch control provides stability over high obstacles.
I'd be happier if this robot limped. Like the Terminator in the original movie...
Neal Stephenson fans will not want to face an actual rat thing, the fast robot in his 1992 novel Snow Crash:
The body is Rottweiler-sized, segmented into overlapping hard plates like those of a rhinoceros. The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's. It must be the tail that makes people refer to it as a Rat
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'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'