Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have created a small cat-like automaton called the Cheetah Cub Robot. Unlike DARPA's Cheetah or Boston Dynamics's Big Dog, this little robo-cat comes in an adorable size that's meant to prance around like a real feline. D'aww.
The kitty-bot comes equipped with springs that simulate tendons and actuators that replicate muscles to make its light gait much more natural and stable. The Cheetah Cub is even agile enough to let it get around small obstacles.
It's also a bit faster than other quadrupedal robots of this size: The Cheetah cub can travel seven times its body length in a second, which ends up being around 1.42 meters (4.6 feet) per second.
Now if we can throw a cat-looking head on there, some fake fur, and maybe some laser eyes, we'll have a robot kitty that's even better than a real feline.
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