To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

University Develops Robots That Look Eerily Similar To The Machines In Black Mirror

University Develops Robots That Look Eerily Similar To The Machines In Black Mirror

"Can't wait for humanity to look back on this playful video and wonder what went wrong after our robot overlords take over."

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

If you've seen any Black Mirror episode then you'll have an understandable concern for the future.

Charlie Brooker's show casts an often dystopian view of what could happen and he does this through extrapolating technology we have today.

One episode in particular, 'Metalhead' from season four, was particularly terrifying because it showed a woman being chased by a four-legged robot.

Black Mirror/Netflix

When you watch shows like this, part of you is relaxed in the sense that you know it's fiction.

However, a new video shows we're not that far off this technology at all.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Mechanical Engineering has uploaded a video of something they've been working on.

They're called Mini Cheetahs and they are scarily similar to the robots from Black Mirror.

The YouTube video shows nine cheetahs frolicking in the leaves on a lawn and MIT showed off their synchronicity and other skills. They can do flips and even play soccer (albeit not that well).

We've all seen those fluffy robot dogs that can backflip, but these robots seem a lot more terrifying in terms of their potential. While it's an engineering feat that's worth congratulating, some people can't help but feel a little uneasy about the technology.

"The Robopocalypse is going to be totally adorable," said one person on YouTube.

"They're so cute, i'm not even gonna me mad when they come for me," said another.

A third added: "Can't wait for humanity to look back on this playful video and wonder what went wrong after our robot overlords take over."

According to Techcrunch, the Mini Cheetah is built as a replica of the much larger Cheetah 3, which is an absolute beast. But this is designed to be an 'off-the-shelf Lego-like assembly' item that anyone can use.

MIT

"You could put these parts together, almost like Legos," says lead developer Benjamin Katz, a technical associate in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering.

"A big part of why we built this robot is that it makes it so easy to experiment and just try crazy things, because the robot is super robust and doesn't break easily, and if it does break, it's easy and not very expensive to fix.

"Eventually, I'm hoping we could have a robotic dog race through an obstacle course, where each team controls a mini cheetah with different algorithms, and we can see which strategy is more effective. That's how you accelerate research."

Cannot wait for the Mini Cheetah apocalypse.

Featured Image Credit: MIT

Topics: Technology