A leaked video shows the latest creation from the makers of some of the world's most advanced robots—showing the bi-pedal machine jumping over obstacles.
The Handle robot by Google-owned Boston Dynamics was unveiled in a presentation by the company's founder Marc Raibert, who described it as a "nightmare-inducing robot."
A video of the presentation filmed by an attendee was posted online against the wishes of Boston Dynamics on Tuesday, January 31.
Unlike other robots created by Boston Dynamics, the Handle robot maneuvers using two wheels at the end of its limbs, restricting it to flat surfaces.
The video shows the robot descending a grass verge and clearing a barrier by crouching and jumping while rolling.
"This is an experiment in combining wheels with legs," Raibert said in the presentation. "[Handle] is a very dynamic system that is balancing itself all the time and has a lot of knowledge of how to throw its weight around, which it uses to help stabilize itself.
The robot is named Handle, Raibert says, because the company hopes it will eventually handle objects. "This is more efficient than a robot with legs, it can carry a reasonably heavy load on a small footprint."
Handle is the latest bi-pedal robot to be developed by Boston Dynamics and follows the Atlas robot, which was demonstrated last year.
Boston Dynamics receives funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and robots developed by the firm have previously been tested by the U.S. Marine Corps.
