海角大神

This cat will always land on it's feet 鈥� or so researchers hope.聽

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Biorob) have invented a robot that moves like a housecat and that could be a prototype for nimble search-and-rescue robots.

The new robot, called the 鈥渃heetah-cub robot,鈥� has been modeled on the feline leg, with three segments on each of the four legs, in the same proportions as they are on a real housecat. Springs are have been used in the robot in place of a cat鈥檚 tendons and small motors have replaced the animal鈥檚 muscles. It doesn鈥檛 have a head, however, so,聽as it toddles around on a leash, it has the look of a mutant spider, but challenged in the leg department.

鈥淭his morphology gives the robot the mechanical properties from which cats benefit, that鈥檚 to say a marked running ability and elasticity in the right spots, to ensure stability,鈥� said Alexander Sprowitz, a Biorob scientist, . 鈥淭he robot is thus naturally more autonomous.鈥�

Clocking in at speeds of up to 3.1 miles per hour, the cat can travel seven times the length of its body each second. That makes the robot much slower than the common housecat, which can move about 29 body lengths per second, but still the fastest of all robots its size.

The new robot is not only fast 鈥� it鈥檚 also light and stable, and researchers hope that later versions will go on to be used in exploration and search-and-rescue missions.

鈥淚t鈥檚 still in the experimental stages, but the long-term goal of the cheetah-cub robot is to be able to develop fast,聽agile, ground-hugging machines for use in exploration, for example for search and rescue in natural disaster situations,鈥� said Biorob director Auke Ijspeert, . 鈥淪tudying and using the principles of the animal kingdom to develop new solutions for use in robots is the essence of our research.鈥�

This is not the first time that animals have served as inspiration for agile robots. Earlier this month, developed a snake-like robot that might also eventually be used in search-and-rescue missions. Cats, too, are a popular basis for robotic invention.聽 Last month, debuted a cheetah-like robot that can reach speeds of 13.7 miles per hour 鈥� when stabilized with parallel support bars and running on a treadmill. Good news, for those of us needing rescuing from our treadmills.