Not merely satisfied with having the the top research labs develop robotic dogs and cheetahs and humans, DARPA’s latest endeavour will see the military agency team up with MIT to develop FastRunner, a robotic ostrich capable of outrunning us all.
And while an ostrich seems like a comical animal to fashion a war machine after, it makes sense. IRL ostriches are considerably faster than humans and have an efficient muscle design in their legs. Expected to stand nearly 1.2m and weighing 30kg, FastRunner will to be able to cover ground at an approximate speed of 30km/h while only using a single actuator in each leg.
Someday the robots are going to kill us all. [FastRunner via PlasticPals via IEEE]