Here's some more foorage of Boston Dynamics' Big Dog, the loping and headless military robot. It's easily the scariest real-life one I've ever seen, and yet, when it recovers from being kicked in that first video, the illusion of intelligence is overwhelming.
It'll be a few years before it's ready for the battlefield, according to this report. Don't miss the parody at Gizmodo.
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Re: The comments/desire to build bipedal robots which are anthropomorphic... Again I don't see the appeal. The human body (standing erect) is one of the worst designs in nature from a defense point of view. Designing machines that do what we do better than we do it is the best course of action, not mimicking evolutionary decisions which have weakened us. We're at the top of the food chain due to our intellect, not our physical prowess. That's the reason why we generally lose in a singular battle against an animal, even ones of smaller stature. For machines that are combat-based, reflecting designs in nature of the best predators is a better expenditure.
But a dog can't climb a ladder!
We're at the top of the food chain due to our intellect, not our physical prowess.
Yeah, but having opposable thumbs doesn't hurt.
The point is versatility. Tracks and wheels are better then quadrupeds at top speed, but they suck at inclines and uneven terrain. Bipeds are even better then quadrupeds at uneven terrain and can climb and do all sorts of actions that a quadruped can, so it would make sense to build biped or quadruped robots if the goal is to create a machine that is capable of versatile motion.
A tracked or wheeled vehicle that can morph in to a biped however, would be the obvious end result of such technology.
FOR CYBERTRON!
I've seen dogs climb ladders. A three-legged cat can climb a ladder, too, but he can't get back down and looks very silly sitting on a paint bucket 10 feet up.
That thing sounds like a 2-stroke motor to me, and the exhaust looks like it to. Wouldn't want to have to take it indoors, *cough* wheeze *choke*
Needs a nice Imperial Power Cell. 500 velton credits this week only, or 15000 guleks any time.
Freaky. Almost seems like a viral for "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."
This thing is going to make a fantastic suicide bomber for militia/guerilla groups.
Think about it: While carrying a huge weight of explosives, it can run at a fortified position -- through covering terrain, and with a much smaller profile than a speeding car -- and detonate without loss of life for its handlers.
@7 Robots are expensive, zealots are cheap.
Nothings more effective on the battlefield than a machine that screams....
"Hey we're over here!!!"
Perhaps they could outfit it in a striped yellow and black outfit...the enemy will simply think it is a giant bee.
I think they're being really optimistic about the capabilities of the Big Dog.
The most illustrative scene is the group of soldiers creeping fairly deliberately through the woods so as not to outpace this thing, while the wildly buzzing two-stroke in the background mocks their stealthy pace.
Seems pretty impractical to me. They'd be better off breeding pack dogs.
I think they're hoping that power technology catches up with their balance/motive technology. The motors are all electric, I believe, and the 2-stroke motor is just being used as a generator. So some high tech batteries or other such silent electrical source would cut down on the majority of the noise.
Not all of it though. Those little high speed electric motors are noisy!!
Ito, my cat's taken to climbing my ladder lately. Gotten herself into some interesting predicaments with it.
its steppy little walk is pretty creepy.
So is Kevin Blankenspore that guys WOW name? What's that on his back a sword?
Wow! They've reinvented the packmule, only noisier, shorter range and slightly more expensive....
If they put half the effort into civilian tech how sweet would life be??
This reminds me of how NASA spent millions of dollars developing a pen that could write in zero gravity, and the Russians solved the problem by using pencils.
This parody still cracks me up every time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXJZVZFRFJc
Tobergill: thanks for the chuckles.
Seriously, though, wouldn't there be more of a benefit to breeding and training existing animals to do the required tasks? Or is it because they're susceptible to injury from gunfire? Seems to me that if the primary task is carrying gear, then it doesn't need to be in front of the squad.
Big Dog will be especially effective when we start trying to annoy our enemies to death with incredibly loud buzzing sounds.
That looks like it would work not quite as well as a mule, which used to be standard army equipment.
Big Dog ='s loud, slow, bullet magnet. Best place for it would be well forward and downrange as a manual mine sweeper.
Noise isn't a big issue right now, since this is just a test platform. They can add a quieter engine later.
Why not use pack mules? Pack mules require a separate logistics train of food, water, veterinarians, and may be temperamental. The requirements associated with a robot can be easily integrated into the existing vehicle logistics train.
And an even more practical reason: even a 1500lbs mule can only comfortably carry a little over 250lbs. Big dog can reportedly carry 340lbs.
You can also turn Big Dog off, put it in a crate, ship it to a base anywhere in the world, and keep it there until it is needed, months or years down the road. It's kinda hard to do that with a mule, although you do have the option of eating the mule.
About 4 years old. So 28 in human years. They should lose the remote, and tag one of the troops so it follows him. Maybe give it voice command or pop a web cam on it that can recognise hand signals.
As this is only the newest model there's obviously going to be quite a few problems with it. So far it seems to be quite impressive and no doubt they'll be ironing out the kinks. Power supply will probably be the biggest problem.
It would be quite useful in helping soldiers carry mortar and other support fire weapons into areas where tracked and wheeled vehicles cant go.
Usually they have to be lugged around in a backpack setup which obviously limits what the soldiers can carry.
Examples of support weapon weights:
The M252 Mortar weighs 41.27 kg (not including rounds or accessories).
The M2 Browning machine gun weighs 58 kg (including tripod).
As for civilian uses there's plenty - as an all terrain replacement for wheelchairs, bomb disposal robot, search and rescue tool for hostile environments.
The usefulness of this thing in a combat scenario seems extremely small. It's a large slow moving target. For all the technology it has, I wouldn't imagine that it's very durable. How would it stand up to nearby explosions or if it takes fire damage? Part of it's usefulness would be surviving far away from maintenance, but it seems far too delicate to ever be able to do that.
More about the Big Dog @
http://kemposen.blogspot.com