Massachusetts uni develops robots similar to machines in Black Mirror

MIT's recent project by the Department of mechanical engineering wherein they developed 4 legged robots called mini Cheetahs have drawn a similarity to the robots shown in Netlfix's original web series, Black Mirror. Black Mirror, a show by Charlie Brooker, showcases a dystopian view of the future through the technology in the modern world and in one of the episodes titled Metalhead in the fourth season of the web series, showed a woman being chased by a scary four-legged robot.

Mini Cheetahs

According to reports, the robots were seen moving on the university lawns while showcasing their abilities such as backflipping and playing soccer. The small robots have been built to act as a replica of a much larger robot codenamed cheetah 3.

The eerie similarity between the robots built by MIT and the ones that were shown in Black Mirror prompted netizens to leave comments on social media platforms such as Twitter.

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Netizens reactions

One user posted a tweet wherein he compared the situation to the plot in the Terminator, a popular Hollywood movie based on robots taking over the world.

A user tweeted with another terminator reference wherein he talked about how the robotic world is waiting to take over.

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Another user found the incident to be very funny and stated that the mini cheetahs were having a lot of fun by doing flips and playing football.

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'Just like Lego blocks'

The person heading the team at MIT, Benjamin Katz, stated that the robots could be assembled just like lego blocks. He further added that the reason for starting such a project was to make experimentations a very easy process and try unique things and added that the robots are sturdy and won't break easily. Katz also said that the process to repair the mini cheetahs was an inexpensive one.

Katz was hoping for a robotic race to take place wherein each person would be controlling a mini cheetah by trying out different algorithms in order to accelerate research.

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(With inputs from agencies)