Military working on Robotic Mule with hybrid wheel/legs
By Marc Perton 
posted Oct 14th 2005 3:30PM
posted Oct 14th 2005 3:30PM
Supercomputing pioneer Danny Hillis has applied his mind to
projects as disparate as theme park rides and automotive design. Now Hillis has taken on the plight of the humble foot
soldier, and is working with the U.S. Army on a "Robotic Mule," a high-tech pack animal that can take some of the
weight off of the infantryman's back and stand the rigors of the battlefield. Unique to Hillis' design are hybrid legs
that borrow some of their design from wheels, aiding in their stability and maneuverability. The project, being
developed with Grumman, is still in the prototype stage, but commercial applications, ranging from all-terrain vehicles
to baby carriages, are already being considered.
OMG its R2D2 with legs.
That's one big mule you've got there.
I couldn't care about this, but am happy to see a full Engadg page without an iPod mention.
Wait, did I just ruin it?
I seem to recall seeing something a few months back about a Scandinavian man whose passion was kinetic art. Many of his works were mechanical 'animals', some powered by wind. Anyway, the legs on this robot remind me of the legs on some of his work. Any forward-backward force on the beast is converted into leg movement to keep it from toppling over.
Also, they'll be great for mining smithore...
Niap: Go watch the movies again. R2D2 has legs. He just hads wheels on the bottum of them.
And then NASA will come in to partner with the military and spend billions of billions of dollars on making this, go through decades of highly scientific research and analysis and after all that, they will have created an automic mule.
Then the Russians will simply use a WHEELBARROW.
Thats a pretty bright idea he thought of. Should be loads more efficient than "actual" robotic legs. Be interesting to see about 100 rocking chair robots rolling across the battlefield...
I'd love to have a suitcase version - the idea of hundreds of these following travelers via a bluetooth "leash" at an airport intrigues me.
During the 60's the U.S. government spent millions of dollars developing a pen with which astronauts could write in zero gravity.
The Russians simply used a pencil.
no one belive that was millitary machine