MIT?s Cheetah 3 robot can now leap and gallop across rough terrain, climb a staircase littered with debris, and quickly recover its balance when suddenly yanked or shoved, all while essentially blind. The 90-pound mechanical beast ? about the size of a full-grown Labrador ? is intentionally designed to do all this without relying on cameras or any external environmental sensors. Instead, it nimbly ?feels? its way through its surroundings in a way that engineers describe as ?blind locomotion,? much like making one?s way across a pitch-black room. “There are many unexpected behaviors the robot should be able to handle without relying too much on vision” says the robot?s designer.
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