Gizmodo: boston dynamics

RiSE Robot Climbs Poles Like Some Sort of Ferocious Animal

Adam Frucci — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:00:00 EDT

The Big Dog robot is scary, but at least you know you can get away from it by climbing a tree. Not so with the RiSE robot, which climbs poles with ease.

Just imagine a Big Dog with a RiSE on its back. The Big Dog chases you down and then it unleashes the RiSE to finish the job. It's designed by Boston Dynamics, the same maniacs behind the Big Dog, so that might be exactly what they're planning. Watch your backs, bipeds. [Kod*lab via Hacked Gadgets]

SquishBot Can Shrink Itself Down to Infiltrate Your Home, Nightmares

Adam Frucci — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:20:00 EDT

Robots alone are scary. But shape-changing robots that can squeeze through small spaces and then grow into sizes of up to 10x their squishy size? I don't like that one bit.

SquishBot is a program to develop a new class of soft, shape-changing robot. The goal is to design systems that can transform themselves from hard to soft and from soft to hard, upon command. Another goal is to create systems that change their critical dimensions by large amounts, as much as 10x. Such robots will be like soft animals that can squeeze themselves through small openings and into tight places.

Sweet mother of god. This is terrifying. [Boston Dynamics via Boing Boing Gadgets]

BigDog Quadruped Robot, Or Something Like It, Spooks Tokyo Streets

Elaine Chow — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:30:00 EST

The Land of Godzilla now has another monster terrorizing its streets—Boston Dynamic's BigDog robot! Only... aren't those feet? This isn't BigDog Beta, is it? No wonder the Japanese look more puzzled than scared. [JapanProbe]

Caption Contest: Girl and Her Robot Dog

Mark Wilson — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:30:00 EDT

"At least she's not riding an octopus, for once."

An artistic recreation of the Boston Dynamics robot, which DARPA is quite interested in as of late. [bbGadgets]

Darpa Wants Bigger, Smarter BigDog 'Bot To Help in Combat

Kit Eaton — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:11:42 EDT

Boston Dynamic's BigDog is already an impressive and freakishly animal-like beast, but Darpa it seems has bigger plans in mind and is asking for a smarter, bigger BigDog. The upgraded robot needs to carry 400 pounds of payload, run 20 miles on any terrain and survive un-refueled for a whole day to please Darpa's request. Plus it must be way quieter so it's more useful in real combat situations and have a smarter brain so it can steer itself autonomously as it trots after its soldier masters.

It'll have to cope with stairs, water hazards, desert levels of heat and arctic levels of snow and ice, navigate through GPS waypoints, and it'll have to respond to speech and gesture commands—at which point you imagine a soldier commanding it to "sit!" and giggle slightly. But only slightly, as none of these enhancements seem too beyond the pale, given the already amazing development of BigDog.

Just one sad point though: Darpa's labelling the new machine the "Legged Squad Support System" or L3. Would it have been a bit much for the military eggheads at the defense research agency to exercise their imaginations and dub it K9? Much better name. [FedBizOpps via DangerRoom]

New Video of BigDog Quadruped Robot Is So Stunning It's Spooky

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:47:49 EDT

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]

HRex Robot Can Conquer Any Terrain with Manic Thrashing

Adam Frucci — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:15:00 EST

The adorable Boston Dynamics RHex robot uses a combo of legs, wheels and paddles to cover pretty much any terrain, water included. It looks like some sort of frantic animal as it thrashes around in the grass and the sand, but it manages to make it through every time. Lil' RHex is remote controllable from up to half a kilometer away using onboard front and rear cameras, and it's even available for sale now. The bad news is that you need to get in touch for a price quote, so you know what that means: you can't afford one. Pity. [Product Page via BotJunkie]

Robotic Pack Mule is More Pantomime Horse than BigDog

AddyDugdale — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 07:47:31 EDT

The BigDog, from Boston Dynamics, a company specializing in human simulation, is just weird. A robotic pack mule that runs on petrol, travels at up to 3.3mph over all sorts of terrain, and can carry up to 120 lb, BigDog has received $10 million of funding from the Pentagon. Check how it moves in a 2006 video after the jump.

[YouTube via UberGizmo]