Although I am pretty sure they will become our overlords one day, I can still admit that robots have become seriously terrifying amazing in the last couple of years. Cheetah, created by the Pentagon’s research agency Darpa, is no exception.

According to Wired, Cheetah can run 18 miles per hour. But what exactly is the point of an insanely fast robotic cheetah that can run so quickly it just set a new land speed record? Wired isn’t too sure themselves, saying, “Darpa hasn’t specified exactly what Cheetah’s military applications would be. But in addition to high speeds, the agency notes that ‘Cheetah is being designed to zigzag to chase and evade.’ Darpa adds that Cheetah could also be useful for “emergency response, firefighting, advanced agriculture and vehicular travel.”

Check out this video of Darpa’s Cheetah bot going for a nice test run before it’s eventually set loose on human prey, its intended target.


Am I the only one who’s going to have robotic cheetah-filled nightmares tonight?

We want to know: What do you think of Darpa’s Cheetah Bot? Freaky or fascinating?