DARPA's menacing military machine gains some new tricks.

The Legged Squad Support System, a.k.a. BigDog, which looks more like the offspring of a bull and a spider than a dog, shows off some new skills in this video. At the order "Follow tight," the stocky robot keeps pace behind its master, trekking uphill through autumnal woods with an ominous whine of servos.

It also demonstrates an impressive ability to stand back up and continue marching after suffering a nasty roll into a puddle.

11 Comments

Please Oh Please put a saddle on this thing!

It seems the robot is in charge and the human is the point man, which will be hit first in an ambush.

BigDog is getting fat. They need to walk him more.

Can it return a frisbee?

@Beyond9
1: wrong article.
2: check this article in the daily telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5712573/UK-is-violent-crime-capital-of-Europe.html
What you are refering to is rates of gun crime, not violent crime. Moreover, your solution would not work in America. Laws have no effect unless they are believed in/enforced/followed: Sticks and stones may break his bones, but words cannot disarm him.

beyond9,
Often for me an indentation does not work for paragraphs.
I usually put a line space between paragraphs.

This is the first robot with legs I have seen that looks like it might actually be useful. Big Dog has come a long way. Congrats to the LS3 team.

It looks so happy!

It seems to have a rather chipper stride, but lists slightly, very like a drunk person. I want one.

It's cool when sci-fi writers let us know what to expect many years in advance. When they see how much of a pain in the butt I can be on social media; I'm sure I'll be one of the first law abiding people they send the robot dogs after. And I look forward to that day, because both dogs and machines like me better than most people and they'll just be giving me robot dogs.


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April 2013: How It Works

For our annual How It Works issue, we break down everything from the massive Falcon Heavy rocket to a tiny DNA sequencer that connects to a USB port. We also take a look at an ambitious plan for faster-than-light travel and dive into the billion-dollar science of dog food.

Plus the latest Legos, Cadillac's plug-in hybrid, a tractor built for the apocalypse, and more.


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