DARPA's Amazing Robot Pack Mule Keeps its Balance On Ice

Why do I forsee some rich guy eventually using this robot to help him climb Everest?

There's going to a story about how this robot saves the rich guys life... Any bet takers?

Wow this is amazing!!

But they're gonna have to make this thing a lot faster if they plan to put this on the battlefield. As maybe they wanna put some guns on this too?

Is this scalable? Imagine one that is 200 ft tall and can travel at 100 mph. I would hate to see it coming at me. But what a ride.

it's probably use full beyond belief but I don't know what it is about it but it hit uncanny valley for me! Seriously they nailed the way that the human and or dogs legs move a little too much too, still a little choppy though but I bet it will get better.

[Mr. Kinney points a pistol at ED-209]
ED-209: [menacingly] Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply.
Dick Jones: I think you better do as he says, Mr. Kinney.
[Mr. Kinney drops the pistol on the floor]
Dick Jones: [ED-209 advances, growling]
ED-209: You now have 15 seconds to comply.
[Mr. Kinney turns to Dick Jones, who looks nervous]
ED-209: You are in direct violation of Penal Code 1.13, Section 9.
[Entire room of people in full panic trying to stay out of the line of fire, especially Mr. Kinney]
ED-209: You have 5 seconds to comply.
Kinney: Help me!
ED-209: Four... three... two... one... I am now authorized to use physical force!

Wow. A 200-ft tall BigDog. Imagine the sound. Thanks for ruining my chance at a decent night's sleep for the rest of the week.

its amazing...

...ly slow. Speed it up, add some guns, and put it on the battlefield.

CREEPY!!!!

Jaw-Dropping. I wonder what the feasibility of implementing this technology onto a 2-legged platform would be.

I really hope that they scale this up and add some serious firepower to it... I see a 4 Legged AC-130... or an Imperial AT-AT

Remember folks that this is just a protoype and that DARPA is funding it so yes there will be a military one (although it may not resemble it in ways) but no there won't be a 200ft tall version for whatever reason you have for it.

I also recommend you see Boston Dynamics' other 3 robots LittleDog, RISE and HRex.

BigDog runs on gasoline at the moment although it will no doubt have an electric motor (even if it's secondary) when it's finalised.

At the moment details are hard to get (i'm sure popsci would have similar problems although they are a business) when i tried emailing them they said they're currently flooded with questions and queries and that they'd get back to me.

My question was how long does the gasoline last with it / how fuel efficient is compared to wheeled devices.

pretty amazing but when was this taken? i don't think they show us something this classified without being mush farther in development

Wow!!!! That's amazing. Ya think that people are going to use this for helping doctors too?

Jack Hamilton

That machine dog makes a really bee-like buzzing. Maybe it could be used for scaring the enemy from the woods. (even more if they outfitted it with some type of small dart)!

Too bad all the military supplies wont be in convenient sand bag configuration and distributed in all four corners. I wold like to see what 4 20mm steel cases would do to the center of gravity and overall envelope of the transporter. A camel sized transporter would be a cool ride just not in the woods.

Too bad all the military supplies wont be in convenient sand bag configuration and distributed in all four corners. I wold like to see what 4 20mm ammo cases would do to the center of gravity and overall envelope of the transporter. A camel sized transporter would be a cool ride just not in the woods. "Redneckmacguiver"

one thing i have to say in response about the speed comment ealier (you know who you are) that was the main reason they added a gallop mode (speed mode in other words) if you keep an eye on the background you notice its moving a lot faster than if it were to just simply walk. and that stuff isn't light, a soldier would be slowed down to say...walking really slow if they tried carrying that hey some soldiers wouldn't even be able to walk and would collapse in about12 minutes or so (all personal estimates)

Big dog reminds me of the gekko from metal gear solid if it was split in half.

The key issue with adding mechanical offloads to help Soldiers carry all their stuff is that the new machine has it's own logistical tail.

If the 'mule' requires a gallon of gas a day then it has to carry 80 pounds of gas for a 10 day patrol, etc.

At least a real mule can eat local vegetation.

The USARIEM man cart (a modified game cart) seems more feasible.

Or some of the new resupply parachute systems.

The reality is Soldiers can't carry much equipment over time because food and water quickly dominate the load as time increases. There can be some savings in integrated design, caseless ammo, fuel cells, designing the soldier equipment ensemble as a power architecture, but not huge savings.