As the robot age moves closer and we humans start collectively worrying about our own relevance, Boston Dynamics have unveiled their latest creation, Handle.
The robot looks like he'd be most at home on a roller skating rink, but has much wider implications as the world's workforce becomes steadily more automated.
Handle stands 1.98m, travels at 14.5km/h and can jump 1.2m vertically. It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 24 kilometres on one battery charge.
Boston Dynamics says the hybrid design gives it a necessary simplicity: rather than needing the complex joints of the fully quadrupedal bots, Handle's wheels can speed it around with little difficulty, while its front legs can be used for balance and for carrying loads of up to 50kg.
Typically Boston Dynamic's videos are a montages of humans trying to kick their latest creation over:
However, as seems to be the way of things with the youngest child, Handle has been subjected to much less harsh treatment than its siblings.
Newshub.
