Chinese-made robotic dog rivals human sprinters

A Chinese robotic dog reached a speed of 10.3 meters per second on a TV show on Sunday — on par with top human sprinters — marking a new robotics milestone.

During the televised public demonstration, the robot, named Black Panther, broke the machine dog world dash record set by WildCat, which was manufactured by Boston Dynamics, a tech company in the United States.

A video broadcast by China's state television broadcaster CCTV shows the 38-kilogram, 0.63-meter-tall robotic dog reaching an impressive speed on the treadmill exceeding 10 meters per second after running for 10 seconds.

To put into context, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt's 100-meter world record is 9.58 seconds, which translates to a speed of 10.44 meters per second.

Unveiled in January, this robotic dog boasted a peak stride frequency of five times per second, ranking it among the world's fastest quadruped robots.

The team behind this project is a collaboration between a humanoid innovation institute at Zhejiang University and Hangzhou-based startup Mirror Me in Zhejiang province.

Over the past few months, Black Panther has undergone an upgrade by integrating its three separate carbon fiber lower legs, thus boosting its overall strength.

The robot now outpaces most humans in sprinting, yet still lags behind fast running animals such as cheetahs, ostriches and wildebeests.

Its future applications could expand into disaster relief and logistics, including playing a role in swiftly navigating earthquake debris.

Xinhua