Gizmodo
Update: If you were amazed by this, don't miss the hilarious spoof. It's even better. Boston Dynamics keeps working on their BigDog quadruped robot, which will probably grow to be the future AT-AT of the Pentagon. Its evolution since the last time we saw it is nothing sort of mindblowing, and a bit spooky.
It looks like an actual biological quadruped. Seeing it climb through rubble, snow, jumping over obstacles like a wild goat, and saving a near-fall on iced ground at the last second (fast forward to the middle of the video) defies belief. It feels so "animal" that I almost feel bad when they hit it to demonstrate how it regains balance on its own.
The new version of the robot can now carry 340 pounds, which is almost triple the previous weight. It looks to me that that $10 million funding they got from Darpa has been put to good use. [IEEE]
Comments
Wow.
Now, so now Darpa is funding the homeless to carry their recycling bags?
almost louder than a Pleo
WOW!!! That is so incredible. A robot that can actually walk and catch itself. Hell, it did better than most humans would have done on that ice. It is spooky. They get this thing faster, these could be robotic guard dogs that roam a perimeter of a place, to keep watch. Put some grips on the "feet" and they may never slip and make them faster and have say stun guns, that would be scary.
That thing scares the hell out of me every time I see a video of it.
The self recovery after it loses balance is pretty impressive.
Was I the only one laughing my ass off watching that thing slip on the ice?
This looks like something out of Half-Life... What's next? Head crabs?
If this is for military purpose, it would work by scaring the HELL out of me in the woods. AmaZing robotics, terrifying sound and appearance.
im pretty sure those killed me in half life
Truly is spooky. When it slipped on the ice, I actually caught myself thinking "poor thing, I hope it's ok" before I remembered it was a machine, and not an animal.
All we need now is a power source that isn't so loud and lasts. When we break this barrier, everything is going to change. Once combustion engines are gone, once batteries are lighter and can last weeks not hours or minutes, then you will need to be afraid.
Gonna be hard to sneak up on enemies as loud as it is, or deliver goods behind the lines, the equivalent of some private running up in a recon situation yelling, "HEY GUYS! I BROUGHT YOU THAT EXTRA AMMO YOU WANTED!"
Reminiscent of a Silent Hill monster.
I always thought mechanized quadruped or biped movement systems would look like something from Front Mission or Heavy Gear, but it looks like they are doing the designs from Hideo Kojima games like Metal Gear and Zone of the Enders - as in the "cloven hoof" design of feet.
I still bet any biped model will have to have wide feet with "toes".
Seeing it regain its balance is impressive, and so very spooky.
In the forest walk it looks like two people carrying a mattress. I agree, this thing is cree-pay, and the motor sound is scarier than any Hollywood monster. Imagine two hundred of these bringing peace and democracy to your neighborhood.
metal gear!?!
seriously, that thing's legs look like exactly the legs of the metal gears from mgs4. that was the first thing i thought, so it fully creeped me out.
Now if I hear a chainsaw and the plodding of four metallic feet coming towards me, I'm running for my life. That thing is damned impressive - especially when recovering from both shoves and slips.
Now if only they could implant the control unit into my legs so I can keep upright even when intoxicated.
Quite possibly the most annoying sound ever.
They need lasers in their noses like k9!
Rather than AT-AT i was thinking of Tachikomas, add 4 more legs and almost you have it!!
Valis
Too bad they still haven't figured out to replace that V-6 with a battery pack.
This is how those movies where robots turn on humans and try to take over start.
Looks like something out of Silent Hill. Good think I watched this in the morning...
That thing is noisy. I'd rather use a mule, unless the plan is to use that somewhere other than the earth.
Side note: Sigmund The Sea Monster was a favorite show, with Big Daddy, Burp and Slurp et al.
it reminds me more of the cow in this 'Top Secret' movie from a few years back.
that was brilliant.
only thing though, i mean for god's sake come on guys,
if only they had had it stop for 20 seconds near the tree to mark its' territory
@valis: Agreed. Now are they going to start developing their own AI and personalities?
Some odd reason, I look at that and think of a cyborg type of zombie dog. Kind of like the resident evil dogs only robotic.
That thing is awesome... It only needs an automated machine gun on top, plus an electrical weiner to re-charge itself by humping into wall sockets.
Does anyone else feel that Fahrenheit 451 is looming?
Imagine if someone put an explosive payload on 100 of these and sent them into enemy territory. You can't shoot it down, you can knock it down (or it could be programmed to detonate when contacted by human touch).
This is so very foretelling of the dreaded technology and further disconnecting from combat reality that governments can dog the wag. (get it?)
Kojima, look what your ideas have done.
...nothing *short* of mindblowing....
But yes, kudos.
Frackin' Toaster.
I think this is the first time I saw a robot that looks scary and plausabl;e for taking over the world. I mean really, imagine a 1000 of those with guns. The guy trying to kick it over was proof we will not have the ability to stop them.
Techinically an amzing feet...
M
@SirDrinksalot: LOL ManHacks
I seriously thought it was going to rear up on it's hind legs and beat the crap out of the guy for kicking it.
What an utterly extraordinary technological achievement.
Holy Crap the part where it gets kicked yet regains its balance and the time it slipped in the snow was cool and creepy at the same time
Nuclear power is very quiet...
I smell an Asimo versus BigDog battlemodo!
Kidnapper, v1.0
Make it bigger, quieter, and not look like a newborn deer.
Then I will order two.
-- US Gooberment.
"What's that johnson? it sounds like we're being attacked by weed wackers?" Haha, very cool, not exactly for stealth quite yet.
Reminds me of the blancmange on Monty Python. The one that plays tennis.
But does it come with teabags?
this is one degree creepier than I thought. my nightmares got a new character to terrorize me.
the way it walks is like a hurt animal, and when the dude kicked/pushed it Oh you Bastard, how dare you! it's a hurt ... hurt... mechanic un-animated thing.
missiles - it NEEDS missiles!! (and a bambi head and skin)
Holly freaking shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. OMG, I'm speechless! I have nothing to say. I feel like a loser, and I'm scared :(
That video is almost disturbing...
Set a bunch of those loose in Iraq at night and watch the insurgents freakout!
Or North Korea... A dog you can't eat! ;-)
I keep thinking it's two dudes carrying something, but they don't have torsos, like something from Doom.
Then I realize the legs are moving all wrong, and it looks like the shadow monsters from Shadow of the Colossus.
Carrying something.
I mean, if you silence that noise and put anytype of head on that thing, you could scare the shit outta Arnold-the-Governator!!!
@steven5737 :
"some private running up in a recon situation" who can carry 300 lb. of armor, and doesn't bleed, that is.
And don't worry, they'll develop the "stealth" version, it will just cost millions of dollars more for no good reason. (Or in modern units of measure, "a few Euro.")
The out of balance recover was astounding. It was obvious the the guy doing the kicking to off balance the robot didn't just pussy-foot around when he kicked it; it was a pretty big shove. I'm not sure if I would have recovered as well If I wasn't paying attention and got kicked like that.
It would seem that the technology now is coming of age enough where simulating realistic human balance and gait is getting closer than ever....
I don't use the words creepy and awesome too often together to describe something, but this thing is definitely creepy and really awesome. Now all it needs is that Metal Gear "moan" and this thing could seriously have a crowd of people running away from it like a flock of sheep.
Give it wings and it could be a Brundlefly! ;-)
it's almost scary watching that thing get kicked / slip on ice. It's reaction is amazing.
I'd like to see how it handles trip hazzards like taut ropes, or what happens when that pile of cinderblocks shifts underfoot. When it slipped on the ice I cringed thinking how that knee must hurt now.
Watching it come up the hill in the beginning made me think of Jeff Goldblum in The Fly for some reason.
Amazing... especially the ice recovery and kick bits...
Anyone else think it looked like two wierdo humanoid grunts facing each other portaging military kit in tandem?
It almost looks like 2 men facing each other, bending over carrying a heavy ass bag of gear!
[gizmodo.com]
we must have been thinking that at the same time.
That thing reminds me of those Hunters in HL2: Ep2. This looks very cool.
The next version will actually kick the guy right back.
Check it out, Boston Dynamics has a whole line of interesting and diverse motion/climbing robots:
[www.bostondynamics.com]