The Hermes robot is shown in a video released on Friday responding to the real-time physical input from a human controller. In the video, the robot shows it can be programmed with faster reflexes for emergency response situations.

"[W]e decided that connecting the robot to a human operator was the easiest way to incorporate the kind of intelligence we need," said, a project team member at MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering, Albert Wang on MIT's site. "It would take a computer a long time and a lot of programming to come to the quick conclusions that humans come to almost instantaneously through good instincts."

In the video, the Hermes robot, which is powered by lightweight electric motors and custom actuators, doing a bunch of stuff ranging from punching through a wall of sheet rock to wielding an axe — two actions that could potentially save a human life during a fire emergency.

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