Always wanted a robotic pet? The Minitaur can jump and open doors just like a dog.

A new robotics startup has launched a sprightly little quadruped robot that is able to scale fences, manipulate door handles, turn back flips, climb stairs and jump up and down while keeping its balance, almost like a robot version of Jiminy Cricket. The Minitaur is a four-legged robot measuring 15.6in by 10.8in that weighs just over 5kg and can carry a payload of over 3kg. The robot features patent-pending gearless direct drive motors that behave like springs and a specialised leg design with sensors that work together to provide precise force feedback, so that the robot can balance and reorient itself from a fall while running and jumping over difficult terrain. Powered by a 72MHz Arduino-compatible robot microcontroller, the robot features high speed and high resolution encoders that enable the robot to sense the ground and process the feedback from the sensors and adapt to situations in real time to keep itself from over-balancing. Minitaur currently retails for 10,000 ( 7,670) and has a maximum running speed of 2m/s and a turning speed of 1 rad/s.