MIT’s Cheetah 3 robot can now leap and gallop across rough terrain, climb a staircase littered with debris, and quickly recover its balance when suddenly yanked or shoved, all while essentially blind. "There are many unexpected behaviors the robot should be able to handle without relying too much on vision" says the robot’s designer. Vision can be noisy, slightly inaccurate, and sometimes not available, and if the robot rely too much on vision, it has to be very accurate in position and eventually will be slow. So the MIT researchers want the robot to rely more on tactile information. That way, it can handle unexpected obstacles while moving fast. Cheetah 3 is designed to do versatile tasks such as power plant inspection, which involves various terrain conditions including stairs, curbs, and obstacles on the ground.