Quadruped

While seeing-eye dogs can be very helpful to the blind, raising and training them is a long and expensive process. Scientists have therefore recently started investigating the possibility of outsourcing the job to dog-like quadruped robots.

Two years ago we first heard about the Swiss-Mile Robot, a quadruped bot with powered wheels on the ends of its four legs. It's now in for some competition, as China's LimX Dynamics has announced it own wheeled quadruped, called the W1.

Back in the good old days, you needed skills to ride a Suzuki up the stairs, and people would look at you like a lunatic. On the Suzuki MOQBA quadruped horsiecycle, though, no skills are required, and people are more likely to look at you with pity.

While we've seen a number of quadruped "robotic dogs" lately, they all require control motors to maintain their running gait. An experimental new one, however, keeps running on its own once it's been set in motion.

China's consumer technology giant Xiaomi has unleashed the second iteration of its robot pooch. The CyberDog 2 looks much less business-like and more like a family companion, comes packed with sensors, and can still do back flips.

Inspections of tall metal structures can be difficult for people to perform up-close and in person, and while aerial drones may help, their limited battery life is a problem. That's where the magnetic-footed Magnecko robot is intended to come in.

If you thought that putting a rifle on a robotic dog was daft enough, what about one with an actual flamethrower on its back? Not just a concept, Throwflame is taking preorders for its Thermonator flamethrower-wielding quadruped robot.

While quadruped robots may surpass their wheeled counterparts at traversing rough terrain, they still aren't able to move along narrow ridges. That could change, though, as scientists have devised a method of allowing them to walk on a balance beam.

There was a time when quadruped robots were only available to deep-pocketed corporate clients, but we're now seeing less-pricey miniature models hitting the market. One of the latest, the XGO 2, is the first such mini-bot to sport a robotic arm.

Many people are already creeped out by quadruped robots, which walk on four legs instead of rolling on wheels or tracks. Well, the MARVEL robot likely won't do much to change such feelings, as it can walk straight up ferromagnetic metal walls.

Last year, Hong Kong's MangDang gave programmers the chance to own a small hackable four-legged robot named the Mini Pupper, a kind of baby Spot. Now the team has returned to Kickstarter with a much-improved second generation robo-dog.

Ghost Robotics' Vision 60 quadruped robot is already quite a versatile beast, capable of walking, running and even carrying a gun. Now, thanks to a third-party attachment, it can also "swim" through the water.