If Kawasaki can envision a rideable robotic tiger, surely China can give it a robotic antelope to eat? Xianhua News Agency reports that the country has deployed a fur-covered robot to the Hoh Xil nature reserve in its Qinghai Province.

The robot’s purpose is to keep tabs on the herds of Tibetan antelopes in the area — without upsetting them, which is why the robotic quadruped has been disguised as one of their own. If their species were sporting 5G access and AI smarts, at any rate.

How does an antelope?

It’s not the first time anyone has thought of disguising a robot as an animal for spying purposes, but the full-on disguise puts the robotics project by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, DEEP Robotics, and, apparently, the Xianhua News Agency firmly in Terminator territory. The camouflaged antelope is being presented in a fairly benign manner, with ecological research in the region being the stated goal, but it’s easy to imagine a robotic deer creeping up and surveilling… well, anything that’s not expecting it. Who’s on the lookout for Secret Agent Deer, after all?

The robotic antelope is said to have a similar gait to the real thing, albeit a touch slower. It’s got a two-kilometre range and an early warning system that lets researchers get into place when an unaware herd approaches the stalking horse’s position. The gathered data on migration patterns will drive future ecological experiments in the country.

There is more than just one robotic furball on the loose. Other “mobile sentinels” are also in the area, though their design purposes are left a little more vague. If they’re peering over fences and into windows in addition to checking out the local wildlife, who would know?