'Cheetah' robot faster than fastest human

ISTANBUL

Company photo

A robot called "Cheetah,” which was produced by a robotics company as part of a project conducted by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), has broken a new record by reaching a speed of 45.5 kilometers per hour – faster than the planet’s fastest human, BBC has reported.

The headless robot clocked a faster speed than world-record holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica, whose record is 44.7 kilometers per hour.

The robot’s previous speed record was 29 kilometers per hour in February.

The project was inspired by the world’s fastest land animal, the cheetah, which can reach a speed of 121 kilometers per hour.

"Cheetahs happen to be beautiful examples of how natural engineering has created speed and agility across rough terrain," said Gill Pratt, Darpa’s program manager. "Our Cheetah both borrows ideas from nature's design to inform stride patterns, [in addition to] flexing and unflexing parts like the back."

The project's goal is to “more effectively assist war fighters across a greater range of missions,” according to Darpa.

"It's unfortunate that it's going to be used to kill people," a professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield also said.