ELECTRONIC AMMO BEARER

jaeger45 · Post by **jaeger45** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 12:25 am

ELECTRONIC AMMO BEARER

Doesn't this remind you of Star Wars?... See Robomutt in action in the You.Tube clip in the link below. Kinda creepy. It will probably be in the moon and Mars long before man.

BIGDOG

The Most Advanced Quadruped Robot on Earth

BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.

BigDog has an on-board computer that controls locomotion, servos the legs and handles a wide variety of sensors. BigDog’s control system manages the dynamics of its behavior to keep it balanced, steer, navigate, and regulate energetics as conditions vary. Sensors for locomotion include joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a laser gyroscope, and a stereo vision system. Other sensors focus on the internal state of BigDog, monitoring the hydraulic pressure, oil temperature, engine temperature, rpm, battery charge and others.

In separate trials, BigDog runs at 4 mph, climbs slopes up to 35 degrees, walks across rubble, and carries a 340 lb load.

BigDog is being developed by Boston Dynamics with the goal of creating robots that have rough-terrain mobility that can take them anywhere on Earth that people and animals can go. The program is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/s ... ion=BigDog

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 3:14 am

He gets around better than I do but he needs a head of some kind to pet when he operates well.

Post by **Bullseye** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 4:42 am

Quite an amazing piece of equipment. They've really taken robotic movement programing to a new level with that one.

I have to give them credit for creating a robot that emulates the movement of a canine, that was very smart. It appeared that it could handle just about any terrain. I wonder how it fares on a softer surface like sand dunes or snow. The unit's heavy weight and small weight bearing surfaces tell me that one may be a little more challenging for Robolobo. That problem would need to be solved in order for this creature to go to the moon. Besides, it gets its power from a gasoline engine driven hydraulic system and that isn't going cut it on another planetoid like moon or mars.

I must admit I see the comparison to the walkers in the Star Wars series. Plus that robot wouldn't be intimidated, or go to ground from the sound of gunfire, so it might make a good crisis ammo resupply vehicle. This baby has military application written all over it with primary funding from DARPA.

As far as civilian uses, I just don't know if I can handle a pet that has a half life instead of a lifespan.

R,
Bullseye

arizona-hermit · Post by **arizona-hermit** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 11:30 pm

Good Grief!!!

Sounds like a giant bumblebee.

I guess the Army will buy a few thousand to be used for covert, night time spy operations.

Now, if we can only go to war against deaf and blind folks, it will work 'perfectly'.