Scientists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have created a two-legged robot that has already displayed its ability to not only run at speeds faster than Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Usain Bolt, but also to avoid any obstacles that might be in its path. Known as the KAIST Raptor – because it has a tail inspired by velociraptors, you see – this robot isn’t the fastest of its kind* at this time, as that honor still belongs to the Boston Dynamics Cheetah (USA! USA! USA!). However, while the Cheetah uses four legs to achieve speeds as high as 29 mph, the Raptor only uses two legs, and has been clocked at 28.58 mph, which means that even faster robots are on the horizon.
This news means one of two terrifying things: 1) When Skynet finally becomes self-aware and turns on mankind, not even the fastest man among us will be able to outrun the robots as they slaughter us by the hundreds of thousands; or 2) Dinobots are close to becoming a reality, which, while terrifying, is also kind of rad.
*This is in regard to robots with legs. Robots with wheels are obviously much faster and will handle the majority of human genocide. The robots with legs will be helpful in chasing down stragglers.
