(Yicai Global) March 2 -- Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings has brought out its first multi-modal robot dog, with a top speed of 25 kilometers an hour.

Four-legged Max is expected to play a role in robot patrol, security, and rescue, the Shenzhen-based company said on its official WeChat account today. Its software and hardware were both developed by Tencent.

A video released by Tencent showed the robot using leg and wheel combinations, an original solution developed by Tencent Robotics X Lab that enables it to run, jump, and climb over obstacles in a complex terrain as well as slide on flat ground using wheels.

Max also has a keen “nervous system,” achieving sub-millisecond control, which greatly reduces delays in its software and hardware system.

In the demonstration, Max jumps up to 50 centimeters high, and is able switch from standing on four wheels to two. The robot also completes some difficult movements, such as swinging up from lying on the ground to standing on two wheels, balance control under interference, backflip, and getting up independently after a fall.

Max represents another development for Tencent Robotics X Lab following the robot dog Jamoca and the self-balancing bicycle.

In March 2018, Tencent’s AI Lab division announced a strategic partnership with Nature Research, a subsidiary of world-renowned academic publishing house Springer Nature, to set up a robot laboratory called Robotics X. The lab focuses on the research and application of three core robot technologies: mobility, dexterous operation, and intelligent agent.

Editor: Peter Thomas