Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Boston Dynamics and Big Dog

In case you don't know about "Big Dog", several years ago the company Boston Dynamics, with funding from DARPA, developed a quadruped robot to transport loads for U.S. military troops.  The videos released from testing were very impressive, with adaptive balancing in real-time and the ability to move over complex terrain very well.  I'm interested in their LS3 robot they're developing for the marines.  It could be very cool how they'll adapt and improve on what they've already created and proven to be worthwhile engineering in the released test videos.  Here's a video of "Big Dog" in case you have no idea what I'm talking about.  Go robots!

59 comments:

  1. I've seen this before, it's crazy~

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  2. The way it rebalanced after being shoved was amazing

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  3. Should be a fun challenge to whoever is capable of competing

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  4. This is very interesting, although it sounds noisy, and looks pretty creepy. I can imagine them just making it look like an animal though! Technology seems to be improving at quite a rate, I'd be scared if they got Big Dog to fight for itself...

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  5. Nice video, look's like the drones are here.

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  6. Didn't they use something similar to this in some movie to disarm a bomb?

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  7. Now if only they could scale it up a thousand times... we'd have an AT-AT from star wars. XD

    Cool site, I will follow it.

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  8. Probably WDK. I'm pretty sure they've been using small RC robots to investigate and disarm roadside bombs if that's what you mean. This thing's cool because it's designed to autonomously (self-navigating, not remote control) move itself between gps waypoints over some pretty crazy terrain.

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  9. Heh that's pretty cool, I doubt they'll use it for the Military though if it still has that annoying noise. It'll be a bit obvious to the enemy.

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  10. DARPA always has a track record for funding crazy science experiments. I'd rather be on the side of the mad scientist than in his path. :D

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  11. Scary looking thing.

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  12. Thats pretty awesome, makes a real weird noise though!

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  13. That is one scary looking dog lol.

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  14. Are you sure is a dog? ò.0

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  15. Big Dog scares my testicles right into my body. I'm glad we don't have a good enough source of power for that bastard to run around unplugged.

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  16. That is one sick vehicle! Although, you could hear it from miles away lol.

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  17. Scary haha, nice to see robotics progressing

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  18. They should teach it to jump off, also I thought it was a fly before I started the video

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  19. hands down the coolest thing ive seen in my life :O

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  20. I'd expect this to eventually be viewed as something like the chupacabra or a mystical creature if used in a foreign underdeveloped country...if that makes sense like it did in my head

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  21. I love this video. Cool robot and funny incident.

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  22. James Cameron was right, robots are gonna take over.

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  23. This robot scared the shit out of me when i first saw it.



    Actually it still does. -shiver-

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  24. Is this thing actually still in development? I remember seeing these a really long time ago

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  25. Wow, it's rebalancing systems seems properly programmed.. I'd love to see what else they have in store for the military

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  26. Never heard of this before, but this is an awesome robot! THanks for sharing. Followed.

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  27. I still cant get over this dog thing lol. its kinda freaky

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  28. i always lawl so hard seeing this

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  29. this robot is disgusting, but someday they'll enslave us so, nice doggy!

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  30. wow that is pretty cool. Its a bit creepy :)

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  31. I FOR ONE WELCOME OUR ROBOTIC OVERLORDS!
    Haha great stuff man.

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  32. well they definitely wont use this thing to get stuff past enemy lines, that noise is gotta get someones attention real fast.

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  33. Robots will take over sooner or later.. But sure, go on and develope a A.I. which is better than the humans. lmao

    Following !

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  34. I've seen this before, but it was only a short clip. It's very cool.

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  35. I almost feel bad for the robotic dog when they try to knock it over.

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  36. this thing is so funny, WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

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