DARPA’s Robotics Challenge, where teams compete to design and develop disaster response robots,
kicked off in June, with the software-based Virtual Robotics Challenge. For this first phase, teams create software and ran it on a robotic simulation. The challenge has now moved from virtual to physical, and the trials have just wrapped up, leaving a field of eight finalists that will compete in the Grand Challenge next year. In case you were wondering, the winner walks away with $2 million in prize money.

At this point in our existence, we’re pretty used to the folks as Boston Dynamics regularly creating robots that horrify us and signify the eventual oppression of the human race under the heavy boot of our mechanical oppressors. That just seems to be how it’s going to go. You can’t help but imagine them as something akin to a real life Skynet. And their latest bit of handiwork, WildCat, is no different, only this new mech beastie will be able to chase you down over all sorts of terrain.

Though it may sound like a lawnmower and look like an awkward, lumbering collection of nuts and bolts, don’t be fooled, WildCat is a surprisingly agile innovation. Not only is the four-legged robot fleet of foot, it is intended and designed to remain stable on rugged ground and in a variety of environments.