Stanford's new robot 'Doggo' can trot, jump, and even do flips

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- A dog-like robot is turning heads around Stanford University.

"He can walk, he can trot, he can do backflips," said student Natalie Ferrante.

Stanford Doggo is the creation of the school's Student Robotics Club's Extreme Mobility team.

Students say the four-legged robot is not only capable of performing acrobatic tricks and traversing challenging terrain but is also designed with reproducibility in mind.

"When we first put the full robot on the ground, it kind of looked like a toddler who really didn't know how to walk at all, but I was moving and we were really excited," said Stanford student Nathan Kau.

The university shared video of its dog robot in action, saying it hopes Doggo will find a home in research labs around the world.

"There's been a lot of trial and error, for instance we never made a simulated model of this robot. So, everything that we tried was in real life," said Kau.

The Extreme Mobility students estimate the cost of Stanford Doggo at less than $3,000.

"We wanted Stanford Doggo to be this open source robot that you could build yourself on a relatively small budget," said Kau.

The students are working on a larger version of their creation - which is currently about the size of a beagle, said Stanford in a post.

Here is more information on the Stanford Doggo Project, and how you can build your own version.