China's Robot Wolves Can Jump, Climb, Back-Flip Through Difficult Terrains

Days after Tesla showcased its Optimus humanoid robot, a Chinese company unveiled its new high-speed four-legged quadruped robot. Also known as robot wolves, it can easily jump, climb and back-flip through difficult terrain at fast speeds. Unlike its predecessors, the four-legged Lynx robot, introduced by Deep Robotics, moves around on all-terrain wheels instead of solid feet, giving the impression that its design was influenced by both conventional robotic mechanisms and quad bikes.

The company posted a video on its YouTube account, demonstrating the Lynx's capabilities, including its ability to traverse tough, rocky, and unstable terrain both uphill and downhill. The video shows the lynx climbing on a rock that is 80 cm above the ground and navigating up and downhill slopes at 50-degree inclines in a wooded environment.

"Teams working on emergency searches or for site exploration commonly face challenges such as insufficient site data and risks to their safety. That's where these robots can provide valuable assistance," said Wei Tang, head of algorithm engineering at Deep Robotics. 

The Chinese military's latest innovation-robotic wolves - has everyone's attention at #AirshowChina. pic.twitter.com/qHWChMU2iW

— Zhang Heqing (@zhang_heqing) November 15, 2024

The company's flagship product series, comprising the X20 and X30 models, has been utilised in public rescue operations, exploration, and security inspection.

An experiment conducted in 2023 showed the X20 could perform search and inspection duties in challenging environments, including in the aftermath of an earthquake. The four-legged robots successfully retrieved explosive and combustible objects and rescued humans in simulated emergency search scenarios. 

The robot wolves were displayed at the China Airshow in Zhuhai. The robots were praised by onlookers, who even dubbed them the "Perfect Child of a Terminator."