There's a new robot in town and it wants to chase you down.
They write on the video:
WildCat is a four-legged robot being developed to run fast on all types of terrain. So far WildCat has run at about 16 mph on flat terrain using bounding and galloping gaits. The video shows WildCat's best performance so far.
It looks a little funny at first, but when it really starts going - galloping, bounding, and turning - you can really see how this would be terrifying. And it definitely can. Humans average about 5 miles per hour running, with bursts between 12 and 15 miles per hour.
The robot is based off the Cheetah robot, a similar robot that ran up to 28 miles per hour on a treadmill while tethered. This is the first video of the WildCat, the untethered free running version. It's still in the development stage and we're not sure what it will be used for yet. As you can tell from the video, its motor is quite loud, so that might be a problem.
The robot's maker, Boston Dynamics, also makes the Big Dog robot and the humanoid PETMAN.