Some robotics challenges have immediately clear applications. Others are more focused on helping systems solve broader challenges. Teaching small robots to play soccer against one another fits firmly into the latter category. The authors of a new paper detailing the use of reinforcement learning to teach MIT's Mini Cheetah robot to play goalie note, Soccer goalkeeping using quadrupeds is a challenging problem, that combines highly dynamic locomotion with precise and fast non-prehensile object (ball) manipulation. The robot needs to react to and intercept a potentially flying ball using dynamic locomotion maneuvers in a very short amount of time, usually less than one second.

Scurrying across the ground at speeds of up to 9mph, this four-legged robotic'cheetah' is sure to make you jump. It has been developed by engineers at MIT and is even able to rapidly traverse ice and gravel. Billed as'virtually indestructible', they said it had learned how to race across a range of different terrain through trial and error, in much the same way that humans learn. Thanks to modern simulated technology, the researchers said, their mini cheetah robot was able to accumulate 100 days' worth of experience on different grounds in just three hours of actual time. Scurrying across the ground at speeds of up to 9mph, this four-legged robotic'cheetah' is sure to make you jump Billed as'virtually indestructible', they said it had learned how to cross a range of terrain through trial and error It has been almost 25 years since the first robotic animals were created, and since then scientists across the world have revealed examples of walking, dancing and door-opening machines, among others. One of the most famous is Boston Dynamics' mini robo-dog Spot, which last year was filmed performing a highly choreographed dance to the music of South Korean K-pop sensation BTS.

MIT's Mini Cheetah robot is capable of running, walking, jumping and turning. How many times can I say it--over and over again, until it becomes like mental nails against a mental chalkboard? We all know the quote from Elon Musk that says something to the effect that "artificial intelligence (AI) is far more dangerous than nukes." The company has been making robots since 1992, and its astute credo is: "Changing your idea of what robots can do." One of those ideas is to have a robot do parkour, jumping over logs and leaping steps without breaking pace.

Fox News Flash top headlines for Nov. 11 are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently unveiled a new video of its Mini Cheetah robot, demonstrating that the four-legged android can now dribble a soccer ball, run and jump. In March, the Mini Cheetah robots were seen doing backflips. "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," Sangbae Kim, Director of Biomimetic Robotics Lab at MIT, said at the time.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology put on a spectacular show with a pack of mini cheetah robots the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Researchers behind the small quadrupedal robots shared a video online of these mechanical animals running, jumping and even kicking around a soccer ball. The cheetahs are shown frolicking through an area of the college campus, while being controlled by a human. The machines perform a synchronized dance, where they show their gymnastic abilities and then they all join in a game of soccer. '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,' Kim said.

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!): Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos. Impressive new video of MIT's Mini Cheetah doing backflips, and failing to do backflips, which is even cuter. MIT'S new mini cheetah robot is the first four-legged robot to do a backflip.

For MIT's Mini Cheetah robot, the head is not a strictly required accessory. Instead, to give the lightweight and low cost ambulatory machine some character, the researchers attached a cartoon tiger's head to the little robot. The effect is right on the border between the comically bad plateau and a horrifying descent into the uncanny valley. I mean, just look at this thing. Look at how its head flops.