Who says you can't teach robots new tricks? In this new video, Boston Dynamics' LittleDog delicately navigates a mini-forest of cylinders like a Chinese wuxia martial artist, but also shows plenty of clumsy pratfalls in the course of its training.

LittleDog is the little sibling of the much scarier and noisier BigDog. The latter has gone on to become a robot Sherpa and mule for U.S. Army troops in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan.

The latest footage comes courtesy of Katie Byl, a robotics researcher at Harvard University whose previous exploits include beating casinos with the MIT Blackjack Team. Keep an eye out for the adorable real-life dog that gives the camera a wide-eyed passing stare.

[BotJunkie via DVICE]