Robotic 'Pack Mule' with Impressive Reflexes

moon_monkey writes "New Scientist has a story about a nimble, four-legged robot that can recover its balance even after being given a hefty kick." From the article: "The project is sponsored by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), who want the robotic pack mule to assist soldiers in terrain too tough for vehicles. Ground-based soldiers often need to carry 40 kilograms of equipment. Raibert says the latest version of BigDog can handle slopes of 35 - a steeper gradient than one in two. The hydraulics are driven by a two-stroke single-cylinder petrol engine, and it can carry over 40 kg, about 30% of its bodyweight. The robot can follow a simple path on its own, or can be remotely controlled."

Video of the robot

[HoneyBunchesOfGoats]

http://www.bostondynamics.com.nyud.net:8090/dist/B igDog_Feb-26-2006.wmv [nyud.net] Put through the Coral CDN, just in case.

The robot looks fairly hilarious when it walks, since it moves a lot like two biped robots (imitating the motion of human legs) facing each other. The whining mechanical noise is also pretty funny, since it sounds like a mechanical goat. However, it does withstand the kick pretty impressively.

Dimensionless, fucktard

[pkhuong]

see topic.

A "gradient of one in two" is a dimensionless ratio. A slope is the mathematical slope in %, which, again, is a dimensionless ratio.

Needle

[HolyYakker]

Lets compare the benefits and costs of these endevours.

Keeping in mind this project was probably long under development before 9/11 even happened; I give you a choice of two tasks:

1. Find one single person in the entire world who has an extensive network of people determined to keep him from showing up on the radar.
2. Build a robot that is able to carry a large amount of cargo over rough terrain and is rather self sufficient.

Benefits from Task 1:
1. Head of an organization brought down. However, since it is a cell based organization and much information indicates his role is no longer chief commander it will do little to help stop terrorism.

2. Umm... yeah, nevermind that's it.

Benefits from Task 2:
1. Easier transport and access to rocky terrain and remote locations (such as the ones in which Osama might be hiding.
2. Possible application in further space exploration, similar to the Mars Rover.
3. Advancement in gyrostabilization, automation of basic AI tasks, and other advanced in robotics.
4. Possible construction and civil applications.

Now, I don't know about you, but I would rather have my tax dollars go to Task 2, but that is just me I suppose.

Re:Video of the robot

[marciot]

Ohh, the video is cool.

Does it make sense to post a torrent on a relatively small file (27MBs)? I guess we will find out. I'm seeding the download for now. Good luck.

http://marciot.freeshell.org/BigDog_Feb-26-2006.wm v.torrent [freeshell.org]

I wonder if having tons of slashdotters download a 3KB torrent will slashdot my free web provider.... should I provide a torrent of my torrent? Or a corel cache of my torrent of the torrent?

GE: prior art

[mhermans]

Isn't really a novel idea, it reminds me of this [davidszondy.com] prototype, developed by General Electric for the US Army in the sixties (see also [davidpride.com]).

Balance

[StikyPad]

I saw the video at video.google.com the other day, and it's impressive, but clearly needs some work. The balance mechanism only seems to work by lifting its leg and placing it farther away, which results in significant sideways travel when attempting to go straight in slippery terrain. Sort of like when you trip or slip and you have to throw a leg out in front of you to keep from falling. Actually exactly like that.. Imagine if you had to do that every time your balance shifted even slightly. While its ability to accurately place its legs to counter a fall is impressive, it's not the most elegant solution. The ability to lean and shift its center of gravity would help immensely. Once this thing can rear up on two legs and kick people, I'll be duely impressed.