Ollie, the latest creation from Tencent’s Robotics X Lab, got to show its moves on June 3 at the 2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Xi’an, China. In a promotional video, the bouncing bot takes stairs, sloped terrain, and even a wrecking ball without falling over. It even does a somersault, flipping 360 degrees to bridge a gap between two platforms.

Tencent, which refers to Ollie as a ‘novel wheel-legged robot,’ says it can hop up 16-inch steps and has a maximum vertical jump of 24 inches. Tencent took a page from animal physiology, giving Ollie a ‘multifunctional actuated tail’ that enables it to complete acrobatic stunts, lower itself to the ground, and transition from two wheels to three to stand up taller. 

Robotics X Lab director Zhang Zhengyou indicted the robot also has trajectory planning capabilities, ‘meaning that Ollie can plan its approach before going up against challenges,’ according to Shenzhen Daily. Ollie’s height is adjustable, lowering down to just over one foot or cranking up to just under two feet, depending on the task.

In case you’re wondering what an agile, wheeled robot could do, the video also includes a demo of Ollie picking a cup of coffee from a barista with a special arm attachment and sensor and delivering it to a seated customer.

According to Australian News Review