You probably picture robots as clodhoppers: ponderous, clunky, even doddery droids that need caffeine, badly. But robots are on the brink of making giant strides. Just ask Columbia University engineering professor Hod Lipson, who writes in Nature that “young animals gallop across fields, climb trees, and immediately find their feet with grace after they fall”—and robots are set to follow suit.

Lipson is right. A new breed of speedy robots promises to eventually outdo the runners at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Notable cybernetic contenders include MIT’s dominant Cheetah , Boston Dynamics’ Petman and Handle , Michigan Robotics’ MABEL , and—further afield in South Africa—the University of Cape Town’s Baleka .

Plus, that efficiency-geared Florida University powerhouse, the Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC), fields a smart, sensor-free biped plainly called Planar Elliptical Runner (PER). The Verge frames PER as “all mechanics,” meaning less technical cunning is needed to keep it upright.

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

A single motor at PER’s core drives its legs in an elliptical or oval motion that makes for inherent stability, so it avoids falling forward or backward. Torsion springs generate added power in PER’s legs, making it still more steady. The paragon of dynamic geometry is unencumbered by any power-hungry, number-crunching processor that gauges steps in line with sensor data.

The slick mover does 12 miles per hour (mph) on a treadmill, which is faster than it sounds. After all, the fastest (official) marathon ever run , by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge in Berlin in 2018, unfolded at a clip of 13 mph .

That said, IHMC pacesetter HexRunner has clocked a world-beating 32.2 miles per hour , edging the previous record of 28.3 miles per hour, held by MIT’s four-legged trailblazer, Cheetah, which riffs on the cat that can hit 69.5 mph in just three seconds, aided by the length of its legs, spine, and tail that lets it balance, National Geographic says .

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Radically different in looks from MIT’s mechanical cat, the wheel-based HexRunner is almost 6 feet tall. Armed with two sets of three spokes set either side of a hub, it rolls along like tumbleweed by spinning both, so whenever one of its six feet leaves the ground, another touches down.

Just like PER, Big Hex is all about sharp design. In this promotional clip , IHMC Senior Research Scientist Jerry Pratt says his team is striving to achieve fast, graceful locomotion marred by minimal feedback, amid general plodding progress.

“With most running and walking robots we have a lot of sensors, and about a thousand times a second we read what the sensors are doing,” Pratt says in the video. “We do a lot of computation to figure out what the actuators should be doing.”

Then, he adds, the actuators that turn energy into motion must be given just the right pulse of power. “And we have to do that really quickly or the robot will fall down."

In contrast, HexRunner operates mechanically, smoothly reliant on springs and linkages.

“All the feedback mechanisms happen physically,” Pratt says in the clip. “So, instead of having to do a lot of computation to have a lot of sensing as you squeeze the throttle on the RC remote, it speeds up the motor, gives more power to the motor —and just based on the dynamics and the geometry of the mechanism, the robot’s stable."

IHMC's FastRunner. IHMC Robotics

The catch is its wheel undermines its cybernetic Futurama credentials, giving it the air of a contraption. In contrast, HexRunner’s fractionally slower cousin, FastRunner , which does 27 mph, has two forked feet. “We are inspired by ostriches and other fast-running birds, which can run very quickly and seemingly effortlessly,” Pratt tells Popular Mechanics.

A compelling reason to build fleet-footed robots like FastRunner is to gain a better grasp of nimble animals, Pratt says.

“Often, results from robotics research are influential to the work of biologists in understanding animals—and vice versa,” he says, raising the specter of bio-inspired devices such as Harvard University’s octopus-like Octobot and the Swiss-built smart salamander Pleurobot , which walks and swims.

EPFL Biorobotics Laboratory’s Pleurobot. Konstantinos Karakasiliotis & Robin Thandiackal, BioRob, EPFL, 2013

Understanding animals makes building better robots easier, Pratt says. In real-world applications such as search-and-rescue missions, speed is key.

“But also, similar to making fast cars for racing, the technology and understanding that we develop for achieving really fast running robots will be useful for moderately fast robots to become very reliable, efficient, and safe,” says Pratt.

With its ability to top 30 mph, HexRunner is his institute’s fastest cybernetic performer, from one perspective. “However, the robot looks more like a wheel than a bird. So, even though it has all the main features of a running robot, not everyone is willing to call it a running robot,” Pratt says.

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

More like a conventional robot, his bipedal planar model PER apparently evokes the most potential, because its brisk pace is achieved despite it being just 2 feet tall. Pratt believes his team can make a leggy, planar robo-bird that outruns an ostrich. That is fast; as the fastest animal on two legs, an ostrich can accelerate like an Audi and hit 45 mph .

“However,” Pratt says of a projected planar super-bird, “it would probably run out of batteries in less than an hour. While our robots can be pretty efficient, they’re still far from being as amazingly efficient as animals.”

Mechanically, he says, running robots are hindered by available motors’ limited oomph. Air resistance, which stiffens at speed, and the extent to which structure can be strengthened, also thwart development.

“However, all of these are practical limits based on available technologies. We know of no theoretical limits to running speed—except for the speed of light of course,” Pratt says.

MIT's Cheetah. Bryce Vickmark

Meanwhile, MIT’s Cheetah has proven capable of reaching 28.3 mph, faster than the land speed record of 27.8 mph set by running legend Usain Bolt . Mind you, Cheetah busted the record with the aid of perfect, turbulence-free conditions, running indoors on a treadmill, propelled by a giant remote power supply. Another inbuilt advantage Cheetah has is its PER-like refined, efficient design.

“In treadmill tests, the researchers have found that the robot—about the size and weight of an actual cheetah—wastes very little energy as it trots continuously for up to an hour and a half at 5 mph,” the original 2013 Cheetah press release states . “The key to the robot’s streamlined stride: lightweight electric motors, set into its shoulders, that produce high torque with very little heat wasted.

Cheetah remains a benchmark for speed. Again, the rub is its resemblance to a mishmash of batteries, gears, and motors , noted by analyst Kendall Costello in a September 2014 post for the children’s science hub Dogonews . Enter Cheetah’s more life-like cousin, WildCat , which is billed as the world’s fastest quadruped robot.

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

The brainchild of MIT spinoff Boston Dynamics, WildCat was funded by the defense department’s Maximum Mobility and Manipulation Initiative, or M3 . WildCat travels at a fairly fast pace: 32 km/h, or just under 20 mph on flat terrain while sustaining a galloping gait like that of a horse or dog. To maintain traction and balance, WildCat leans into turns .

WildCat is propelled by a raucous, methanol-fueled motor that drives a hydraulic actuation system reliant on pressurized fluid. WildCat braces its trajectory through methods such as “proprioception,” or awareness of body position and movement, and “visual odometry,” or camera image analysis. Additionally, WildCat’s laser range finders gauge its distance above the ground.

Despite its four-legged, feline look, like Cheetah, the hi-tech pacesetter could apparently use sharper design. “Though it was able to achieve impressive speeds, WildCat’s massive gasoline engine made it very noisy and clunky, and therefore not of much practical use,” Dogonews wrote.

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Boston Dynamics’ rival statuesque military device Petman (Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin) breaks the cybernetic sprinter mold with its human shape that lends it to testing chemical protection clothing. Petman is also expected to pursue search-and-rescue operations in hazardous conditions including fires adroitly.

Petman’s top walking speed of 4.4 mph may seem only mildly impressive, but it moves as dynamically as a real person, says the military content hub Army Technology . Additionally, Petman looks vigorous and capable of more, like the relentless, fictional T-800 Terminator.

Spry real-world humanoid Mabel , which was made by the University of Michigan’s neatly named Legged Locomotion Lab, is no longer in the race, but notable for being crowned the fastest bipedal robot with knees in 2011. Emphasizing her agility, Mabel had a “trip reflex” and could effectively run a 9-minute mile at 6.8 mph.

University of Michigan professor Jessy Grizzle with MABEL and members of the Control Systems Lab, 2011. Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services

“Watching her strut her stuff around a little indoor track in the video above, you’ll notice the springing motion of her legs, which is very similar to a human running—both spend about 40 [percent] of their time in the air,” CBS journalist Veronique Greenwood wrote. Now retired, Mabel passively graces the biomechanics exhibit at that touted “journey of discovery across time,” the Chicago Field Museum.

The world’s first legged running robot meant for public commercial release, the crowdfunded OutRunner never left the blocks , despite reaching the alpha development stage and promising much. Branded “wickedly fast” by Gizmodo , the star-shaped, two-legged marvel was meant to eat up competitors.

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

OutRunner’s alleged talents included the capacity to run up to 20 mph on almost any terrain—asphalt, grass or dirt. “By having a center of mass lower than the leg axis of rotation, OutRunner robots exploit a buoyancy effect, making them inherently stable and eliminating the need for expensive sensors and complex control algorithms,” the pitch said.

Regardless, OutRunner failed to inspire enough zeal and take-up. Its Kickstarter campaign raised just $62,271, less than half of its $150,000 goal. The website of the Florida company that conjured up the populist bot, Robots Unlimited , is blank.

Now, the most exciting new talent on the athletic cybernetic block may be the University of Cape Town’s two-legged newcomer, Baleka , whose name means “sprint” in Zulu.

The University of Capetown’s Baleka. Mechatronics

“There is so much being done in robotics that can inspire future researchers, but much of it focuses on steady-state or constant-velocity motion,” the leader of the team that made Baleka, Amir Patel, told Cape Business News in an April 2019 report.

“The new frontier is transient, rapid movement—and we are one of the first groups looking at that,” the department of electrical engineering senior lecturer said.

Baleka was designed by Master’s student Alexander Blom. The development engineer successfully identified the right robot structure through writing a one-off algorithm with defined parameters for accelerating and stopping.

The University of Cape Town’s Amir Patel, Callen Fisher, and Alexander Blom with Africa’s first two-legged robot, Baleka. Amir Patel

“By testing acceleration and deceleration motions and trying out different leg lengths and gear ratios, we could identify what we needed to build,” Blom told Cape Business News.

Next, his team devised Baleka’s operating system, sensors, electronics, even a kill switch. “If anything goes wrong, we need to be able to shut it down immediately,” Blom said.

Patel tells Popular Mechanics that Baleka is designed to accelerate terrifically fast. Consequently, it’s capable of high-energy bursts based on super-efficient, high-torque twisting-force brushless DC motors and high-frequency software controllers that drive them fast. The wizardry enables Baleka to push off the ground, even leap.

Patel pinpoints two reasons for making Baleka-style robots that go ever faster. First, he and his team want robots to be much more autonomous. In step with that aim, robots must react snappily to sudden changes like slippery patches on their own.

The second reason to build still faster robots, Patel says, is that they constitute an excellent platform for testing high-speed algorithms using novel sensing systems. For example, he says, the algorithms his team devised for Baleka are directly transferable to other systems such as aircraft and self-driving cars.

Like IHMC’s Pratt, Patel says the main application will be emergencies. One day, he predicts, high-speed robots will track down survivors in a challenging disaster space such as a flood or earthquake that obliges the devices to turn-on the speed while navigating obstacles.

From his standpoint, running robots have already left humans in the dust. Patel cites how Cheetah laps Usain Bolt. Mind you, he has a caveat.

“These robots are really good at working in the lab!” Patel says. “Working outside in the real world is pretty challenging, as obstacles and missteps can often happen.”

The biggest challenge, he says, is cognition. “At the moment, our brains can easily compensate for changes in the world. I think that, for robots to move out of the lab, they will need to think on their feet much faster. Or learn.”

Technologist Boris Kogan , a mechatronics architect at ASML, echoes Patel’s point about stumbling blocks.

“As simple as walking and running is for living creatures, we still don’t see robots operate in our made-for-humans environment,” says technologist Boris Kogan. Boris Koganat

“Walking robots—both bipeds and quadrupeds—are still an evolving field,” says the mechatronics architect, whose discipline twins electronics with mechanical engineering.

“As simple as walking and running is for living creatures, we still don’t see robots operate in our made-for-humans environment,” Kogan tells Popular Mechanics.

Smarter hardware control is required to keep robots on their feet and ensure they stay upright while performing tasks in an environment characterized by unknown disturbances. Besides having to negotiate ground interaction at every step, a running robot must address “the task itself.” A disaster-recovery-and-prevention mission may involve opening doors, turning levers, maneuvering object, and operating equipment made for humans, such as drills, Kogan says.

Kogan adds that it’s hard to achieve “reasonable endurance” of six to eight hours on a single charge. Still, he says, the desire to mature the robotic locomotion field—make next-generation machines that surpass human capability—is big.

Accordingly, technology will evolve. Energy sources are growing in size and power, Kogan says, stating that batteries carry considerable charge and can output intense power on demand, in the case of electric bikes, cars, buses, even planes. Hydraulics—the branch of science concerned with piping liquids—and adaptable smart materials including elastic “shape-memory alloys” may further drive speed, he says.

“So it’s being driven by multiple players, including industrial robotics manufacturers and users,” Kogan says. It’s impossible to find a person who has yet to see YouTube clips of Boston Dynamics robots walking, running, jumping—even doing back flips, he adds, evoking the world’s touted most dynamic humanoid Atlas , which is so cool that it does parkour .

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

The outlook for upticks is good; Kogan says many robots with more strength than us already exist. According to one report cited elsewhere, robots could soon be 15 times stronger through a new, rubber-like artificial muscle. One more reason for high expectation is that other established machines like airplanes and space shuttles transcend our physical constraints by flying and entering the outer stratosphere, Kogan says.

“Fast robots should be nothing out of the ordinary,” he says, adding that where quick response is needed to avert disasters, they’ll act faster and better than humans. In the future, the speed that robots achieve may be staggering.

“With a large enough and power-dense energy source, we can probably propel any machine to unimaginable speeds,” he says.

Like Pratt, he believes the fastest robots may be hybrids—an advantageous eclectic mix of frameworks. One inspiring hybrid he cites, Boston Dynamics’ Handle , bowls along on wheels that double as feet.

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

The leggy, free-wheeling research robot dubbed “a Segway-on-mescaline” by Wired stands 6.5 feet tall. Kept erect by finely tuned control algorithms, the super Segway with a side gig stacking boxes travels at 9 mph and jumps 4​ feet vertically.

In the promo clip , Handle rears up and rolls down a flight of six steps and an icy slope before heading into a parking lot, where it hangs a left. Besides, it straddles and rolls over a table before executing a last, freeze-framed cheeky leap back into the outdoors.

Despite its stunning mobility, Handle is supposedly simple. “Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance and mobile manipulation principles​ found in the quadruped and biped robots we build, but with only about 10 actuated joints, it is significantly less complex,” says the Boston Dynamics explainer appended to the clip.

While wheels are efficient on flat surfaces, legs can go almost anywhere. “By combining wheels and legs, Handle can have the best of both worlds,” the statement says. Kogan portrays the research robot in an equally upbeat light and also sees huge potential.

“You can think of it as a human on an electric skateboard, or inside a car,” Kogan says. “And with that, the sky’s the limit.”

Futurist Anders Sörman-Nilsson, the managing director of the strategic think tank Thinque , also sees few constraints on progress broadly. According to him, fleet-footed cybernetic performers are part of a trend toward robots outstripping us across the board.

“We are living at a time when the rate of change has never been this fast and will never be this slow again,” Sörman-Nilsson tells Popular Mechanics. “We are living in exponential times. Robots are amongst the avant-garde technologies driving this development.”

Whether it’s our brawn or brains becoming automated or roboticized, humankind focuses on value-innovations that make something faster, better, or cheaper, he says.

Sörman-Nilsson projects a future where robots are weaponized in warfare. Alternatively, they may be deployed in occupational health-and-safety campaigns in innovative spaces like the factory of the future and digital mining. In such contexts, fast robots will reduce physical harm to humans by supplanting and putting them out of harm’s way, he says.

While humans are on a linear development curve, robots follow an exponential development one. “Which means they will overtake us tortoises in the near future,” Sörman-Nilsson.

In the future, it seems, a host of robots of all stripes will have sufficient athleticism to lap us. Soon we’ll be the clodhoppers sorely needing more speed.