Meet Ghost Minitaur — A Quadruped Robot That Climbs Fences and Opens Doors

If you’ve been a fan of Boston Dynamics and wish you could have a robotic pet of your own, you may soon be in luck. That’s because Ghost Robotics is working on a medium-sized quadruped — dubbed Ghost Minitaur — which the team hopes will one day cost in the ballpark of $1,500 if it reaches mass production.

Thanks to its high-torque motors and specialized leg design, Ghost Minitaur is capable of running and jumping over rough terrain while actively balancing, climbing fences, going up stairs, and rapidly reorienting itself from falls. It can even open doors! What’s more, high-speed and high-resolution encoders let the machine see the ground through the motors and adapt faster than the blink of an eye.

According to its page, the fully-assembled Ghost Minitaur features an Arduino-compatible STM32F303 @ 72+MHz with microSD logging, a 4S 16.8V hardcase LiPo battery, a remote control, a picatinny rail system for payload/sensor/manipulator attachment, as well as all the necessary software.

However, as awesome it may sound, the robot will likely be used by businesses and governments more so than the everyday consumer. According to its team, possible applications include the deployment of Ghost Minitaur as an autonomous sensor vehicle for public safety, military, exploration, mining, agricultural, and hazardous environment operation.

Intrigued? You can read more about the robot on IEEE Spectrumoron its official website, and see it in action below!