Military commissions cheetah, humanoid robots

Well, the U.S. military has reportedly commissioned the production of bipedal soldiers and quadruped robots that can outrun human beings. Boston Dynamics, known for its BigDog canine bot, is working to develop a humanoid robot called Atlas and an animal-like running robot called Cheetah. The robo-cat is due to arrive in 20 months. The company's efforts are part of multimillion-dollar contracts with DARPA over a four-year period, according to a Boston Herald report. Initially, Cheetah is supposed to achieve speeds of up to 30 mph.