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Home / News / Robot cheetah is faster than Usain Bolt

Robot cheetah is faster than Usain Bolt

Researchers have created a robot that can outrun the fastest man on the planet. What could possibly go wrong? Gulp.

We don’t trust robots. They lack souls, don’t require air or nutrition and are entirely indifferent to the cuteness of kittens. Plus they’re better than us at everything.

Take the Boston Dynamics Cheetah robot – which was featured in our 25 best real robots feature. Back then it could charge along at 18mph, but after some tweaking, the tech maestros at Boston Dynamics have managed to get this quadruped running at 28.3mph. Scared yet?

Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man (who we interviewed) has reached a top speed of 27.78mph during a 20-metre sprint, but we wouldn’t bet on his mortal muscles taking that strain for long.

Luckily, the robotic cheetah can only operate on a treadmill for the time being thanks to its power cable limitations – but with plans to make it portable early next year, it’s only a matter of time before we become a metal cat’s meaty snack.

[BostonDynamics via Dvice]

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Profile image of Dan Grabham Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home