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

A new video of the Army's BigDog 'bot highlights its eery abilities



Two years ago we showed you Boston Dynamics' incredible BigDog—one of the world's most ambitious legged robots—being developed for DARPA and the U.S. Army. With its advanced system of hyper-responsive hydraulic joints and a suite of sensors, accelerometers and gyroscopes, the BigDog's most stunning achievement is it's ability to walk, climb and maintain its balance on diverse terrain, even after slipping on ice or receiving a kick to one side. All while carrying several hundreds of pounds of supplies on its "back."

In this new video, we see the latest BigDog iteration taking a stroll through the woods, stomping through ice and snow, showing off a new gallop, and in one of the more amazing things you'll see today, regaining its balance autonomously after slipping on a patch of ice. The amount of real-time computation involved in something like this is staggering, and if the YouTube comments are anything to say about it ("Shoot it. SHOOT IT!"), we humans may not be quite ready to accept such lifelike behavior coming from a machine.

If and when it enters service, BigDog could support troops on the battlefield by carrying heavy cargo or evacuating the wounded. But for now, it's sticking to making online video fans' jaws drop.

15 Comments

Comments

wmmurphy
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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?

2 out of 5 people found this comment helpful
The Joker
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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?

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Kirk
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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.

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ghost
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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.

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bb1984
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[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!

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John Mahoney
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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.

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Darthdan431
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its amazing...

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

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jsnbr80
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CREEPY!!!!

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trams
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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

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Xero993
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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.

3 out of 3 people found this comment helpful
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