In a video uploaded by MIT’s Biomimetics department, nine Mini Cheetah robots can be seen rustling up some autumn leaves and doing the occasional backflip.
Each Mini Cheetah can run at 6 mph and weighs only 20 pounds, about the size and weight of a medium-sized dog.
“Mini Cheetah is just about the perfect size. 20 pounds is not too small but not so big that it’s dangerous or fragile,” director of MIT’s Biomimetics lab Sangbae Kim told IEEE Spectrum earlier this year. “We designed the machine to be able to absorb the impacts, jumping and landing and so on.”
While other quadripedal robots such as Boston Dynamics’ Spot can patrol on a predetermined route, these little guys aren’t able to do much more than run in circles and do backflips.