MIT's New 'Mini Cheetah' Robots Flip, Jump, and Trot During Tests

Mechanical engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory in Cambridge celebrated the completion of nine new robots on November 6 by showcasing the agile “Mini Cheetahs” on university grounds.

Footage released by the lab shows the robots, remote-controlled by members of the lab, trotting, flipping, hopping, and crouching on the lawn of MIT’s Killian Court.

The video also shows Mini Cheetahs pushing around a soccer ball and bashing into one another.

The laboratory’s director, Professor Sangbae Kim, told Storyful the robots were built for “research collaboration with other laboratories.”

The Mini Cheetah robot was designed by Ben Katz and programmed by Jared Di Carlo, Professor Kim said. Credit: Biomimetics MIT via Storyful