Six-Legged 'OutRunner' Robot Emulates Human Motion (Video)

Check out this new six-legged robot, dubbed "OutRunner." Standing in at less than 2 feet tall and weighing around 3 pounds, its six legs hide inside a motorized engine that can speed along at 20 mph. In fact, this robot that emulates a human runner, which can run for up to two hours on a single battery charge.

"The whole robotic world is really closed off right now. If you're not an engineer with a Ph.D., well, you won't be able to play with robots. I want to change that, so I started my company to commercialize robots," said Sebastien Cotton, leader of Robotics Unlimited, a spinoff of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, via The Associated Press (AP).

The robot was developed by Robotics Unlimited, a company that's connected to the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, and has been described as "The world's first running remote control robot."

At this time, the project, which has received help through Kickstarter, has gained more than $46,000 from 184 bankers with a goal of $150,000.

"One of the hardest things with bipedal locomotion is swinging the leg forward," Cotton added, regarding the description of the robot. "That's a very complicated motion, so we took a different approach to simplify the mechanics by having the legs spinning."

First, for people who love to build and take apart things, it's perfect because OutRunner is completely upgradable. It also can be educational because it's very fun for kids to play with and easy to use. We want people to be able to play with real robots without having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Want to see OutRunner in action? Check out this video, courtesy of YouTube.