Robots have always been seen as a support for defense, rescue and reconnaissance. Models are being worked upon for more than half a decade now and all have drank off power cables. However, MIT has recently come up with a cheetah robot that has the same agility and speed like the real animal and drinks from a battery such that it could be let free.
The revolutionary design was showcased at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation. The design was highly inspired by the animal kingdom and is of the same weight and size as the regular cheetah. The robot could run as fast and the design has totally imitated the Kevlar tendons on a cheetah legs that helps it gain speed and maintain agility.
Other running robots that the world has seen, such as the Boston Dynamics Cheetah funded by DARPA use hydraulic power strides. However, MIT replaced it with a magnet synchronous motor that is permanent and is lighter than the previous counterpart. The regenerative motors such as the ones used in hybrid cars reuse power to keep the cheetah running in the same pace.
This MIT cheetah has a cost of transport (COT) ratio of 0.52. The COT is defined as the ratio between power consumption and weight times velocity. The COT here is same as the real cat in the jungle. Powered by two pairs of 22.2-V lithium polymer batteries will help he cheetah maintain a pace of 5.2 mph and will not have any power cable attached to it. However, the final tests about the compatibility of the robot is still due.