(Photo : John Phillips/Getty Images for TechCrunch)

In a recent development, researchers have built a robotic cheetah. Currently, in a prototype stage, the robot has been built by the researchers at the University of Twente. The automation has been built with a view to replicating the movements of the fastest land animal on earth.

According to Phys.org, the robotic cheetah uses only 15 percent more energy than the live animal to make its movements. As per researchers, the robotic version of the cheetah is different from other robots which can't move much faster. They say that this version of the mechanized cheetah can make the robots built with the same technology look much more elegant and make them work more efficiently.

The researchers have claimed to place springs in place of the vertebrae and the intervertebral discs present in a live cheetah, which makes the movements of the robotic cheetah shifter. The automated version of the cheetah has also been made keeping the amount of energy stored by a live cheetah in its muscles.

According to the University of Twente, the researchers had a long look at the movements of the robotic cheetahs, which they analyzed via software. They came to find out that the backbone is extensively used by the cheetah during its movements. The cheetah bends and extends its backbone efficiently to trigger its huge leaps and exceptional fast running, and that is the mechanism upon which the research has been based.

Researchers say that the best application of this robotic cheetah can be done to rehabilitate robots, which have been found faulty or decommissioned earlier than expected. They are also very much hopeful that this technology can be used in advanced prosthetics.

The prototype of the robotic cheetah is 2.5 kg in weight and is 30 cm in length. It is twenty times lighter and four times smaller than a real cheetah. The research will be defended by the creators at the campus of the University of Twente on 21st April.