MIT’s backflipping mini ‘cheetah’ robot sure is a show off

Look, we get it. Robots are here and they’re totally awesome and everything. But do they have to be so goddamn cocky about it? 

MIT’s new backflipping “mini cheetah robot” is the latest addition to a long line of electronic showoffs reminding us that we’ll never be as agile as something cooked up in a lab. 

“At only 20 pounds the limber quadruped can bend and swing its legs wide, enabling it to walk either right side up or upside down,” writes MIT — definitely not rubbing it in that we can’t walk upside down — in a description of the Feb. 28 video. 

But wait, there’s more. “The robot can also trot over uneven terrain about twice as fast as an average person’s walking speed.” 

Oh gee, great. Getting away from this four-legged reminder of our own inadequacy now requires jogging? 

Sigh. If there’s one thing this new cheetah bot makes clear, it’s that the robot apocalypse will be heavy on the shame factor.