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Like a cop with his K9 the future of war will be fought by a headless robot and its trusty cheetah bot companion. Remember BigDog? Well man’s favorite four legged robot is about to get a serious upgrade, by upgrade I mean make-over.

Boston dynamics, the makers of BigDog, was given two new contracts this week to develop a new quadruped that moves faster than any human and is agile enough to “chase and evade.” The four-legged Cheetah will sprint faster than a human, take tight corners so it can zigzag to chase or evade, and be able start and stop on a dime, the company said. Boston Dynamics’ goal for the first Cheetah model, due in 20 months, is for it to run at a clip of 20 to 30 mph.

Aside from its unspecified military applications, Cheetah’s makers see it galloping to the rescue and bringing soldiers in the field freshly slaughtered antelope and perhaps a rabbit or two.

But wait, there’s more. Cheetah will have a humanoid pal by the name of Atlas, a very close relative to the T-800 series Terminator, minus the head.

Built with two legs and two arms, will walk like a man, using heel-to-toe motions and long strides. It will be able to climb, turn sideways to squeeze through narrow passages and use its hands to maneuver in rough terrain with human-like agility, according to the engineering company.

Atlas

[Cheers wired.com]