The YouTube ID of -_k9SZAX8GY#! is invalid.I’ll bet you didn’t know that DARPA was even interested in a robotic ostrich, did you? I sure as heck didn’t. But I suppose it shouldn’t be that surprising, since DARPA seems to want robotic versions of just about anything that’s capable of extreme levels of performance, and an ostrich apparently fits the, uh, bill.
The above image is a rendering of the eventual form of a robot called FastRunner, which is a joint project between the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) and MIT. FastRunner uses a novel* leg design that should allow it to efficiently sprint at speeds of over 30 kilometers per hour while stabilizing itself and only using one actuator per leg. It’ll also be able to run over moderately rough terrain, albeit at 15 km/h, which is still probably going to give even a talented human a run for their money. To put the speed of this robot in perspective, a human can sprint at about 40 km/h over short, level distances, while an actual ostrich can hit almost 100 km/h, with sustained speeds in the 70s….
(via @newsbeagle)
BONUS: The study “Courtship Behaviour of Ostriches Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain“