Real-life, robotic pack mules are slowly starting to get ready for war. After years of developing four-legged 'bots, the roboteers at Boston Dynamics have just snagged a major Pentagon contract, worth up to $40 million. The goal: give their mechanical quadrupeds "the performance and reliability needed for military use," Marc Raibert, Boston Dynamics' chief, tells DANGER ROOM.
Already, Raibert's main creation – the 165-pound, two-and-a-half foot tall, alarmingly life-like BigDog robot – performs pretty damn impressively. Check out this new video from Boston Dynamics: the thing hauls 150 pounds, picks its way across rocky fields and steep slopes, and leaps into the air like a steeplechasing horse. But what remains BigDog's most impressive feature is its ability to maintain its balance, without human intervention; the Dog is so surefooted, it'll take a hard kick, and still stay upright.
And that's more than a lab trick. The military wants to use these machines to carry soldiers' loads for them across the battlefield. Which means the BigDog has to be able to take some punishment, and keep on walkin'.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2bExqhhWRI
