Robotic Dog With Wheels Climbs Steps, Speeds Down Mountains

Deep Robotics has officially launched its new robot dog, the Lynx, an all-terrain robot that uses a combination of wheels and legs to navigate a variety of rough topographies.

The wheeled-leg hybrid design combines the speed of wheels and the agility of legs, giving it the ability to travel to hard-to-reach wilderness areas on search-and-rescue missions, for example. It is powered by Deep Robotics’ proprietary motion-control algorithms, giving the robot multi-terrain adaptability. 

The unique means of locomotion means it can roll across flatter surfaces on all four legs or go bipedal to climb steps almost nine inches high and slopes as steep as 45 degrees. Videos show it speeding down rough mountain roads and clambering rock walls.

The Lynx is designed to be protected from external elements and has a three-hour battery life. The robot batteries can be quickly swapped out and it has a high-performance image/video transmission. It also runs on the Deep Robotics AI platform and can be customized for different use cases. 

Priced at $17,999 per unit, the Lynx joins other robots manufactured by the China-based company, none of which travel on wheels. 

The other Deep Robotics units include the X series, a quadruped robot suitable for heavy industrial use, the Lite, which is suited for academics and research, and a bipedal, humanoid robot, the DR01. 

Related:Deep Robotics Unveils Latest Robot Dogs

The robots have been deployed in a variety of industries, including power and utilities, rescue, tunnel inspection, metals and mining, construction and research.