MIT Cheetah III robot to become a first responder

By Jean-Jacques DeLisle, contributing writer

Usually, robots taking jobs from people is depicted as a bad thing, but if your job is to run into a nuclear reactor during a meltdown, you might feel differently about the situation. The Cheetah III, a robot developed by the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering Biomimetic Lab that is based on the university’s previous Cheetah models, comes with a few unique upgrades. Under the direction of Associate Professor Sangbae Kim, this cat-like robot is being built to operate in compromised emergency response environments.

The Cheetah II robot, the Cheetah III robot’s predecessor. Image source: MIT.

The robot’s predecessor, the Cheetah II, was focused on high-speed locomotion and agile jumping but was not designed to perform other tasks, according to Kim. “With the Cheetah III, we put a lot of practical requirements on the design so it can be an all-around player,” said Kim. “It can do high-speed motion and powerful actions, but it can also be very precise.” The robot is roughly the size of a large dog, can run on four articulated legs up to 6.4 meters a second, and jump to a height of 60 centimeters.

Previous designs of quadrupedal robots utilized high-torque hydraulic actuators. These powerful actuators are necessary for such robots to function due to the large amount of force required for four-legged locomotion. The Cheetah III does not make use of hydraulic actuators to achieve these high levels of torque but instead relies on electric actuators that are designed to emulate the articulation of muscles in an animal. These actuators are much more efficient than their hydraulic counterparts and also achieve higher speeds with the use of 12 electric motors. The electric motors can articulate the limbs with up to 12 degrees of freedom of movement, which is significantly more than that of the hydraulic motors. The Cheetah III can also use high torque to open heavy doors or climb stairs at high speeds.

The technology is still being developed, but the chances of witnessing animal robot EMTs or firefighters in the future seems likely. The creators of the Cheetah III believe that it could even become a viable agent to deploy into power plants undergoing a radiation leak within a few years’ time. Within 10 years, it could be able to do more complicated tasks such as extracting dangerous materials from a power plant or closing a valve in an area that humans cannot reach. It’s possible that within the next few decades, robotic animal-like first responders might even replace firefighters or rescue workers who have to work in dangerous areas. Perhaps the future will not be full of killer robots but rather with robots that are designed to save human lives without risking the lives of others.