BigDog robot to carry gear for troops

It can carry loads of up to 120 pounds, amble along at 3.3 miles per hour, climb hills, and can follow a path by itself via stereo vision or be controlled via remote. It's BigDog, the gasoline-powered, gyro-stabilized, 2.3-foot tall, 165-pound pack mule of the future. BigDog is being developed by defense contractors Boston Dynamics, and will, we assume, be the best pal for the robot army of the future. And just for the record, we're pretty confident that BigDog could take down any spare Aibos that Sony has left lying around.

[Nels @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:50PM]

Where's the guns?

[Loban @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:51PM]

When the video first started and I saw it move for the first time, I thought to myself "that is the freakiest looking thing ever". It reminded of something the Strogg from Quake 4 would make out of spare human body parts or something. But then after you get used to the eerily realistic movement, it looks really cool.

That is one badass robot. It's hard enough to make a robot that can stablize itself without external interference, let alone one that can quickly recover from a hard kick to the side.

[Marcus @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:06PM]

You would think they'd have built it lower to the ground, and used tank-style tracks instead of legs. I don't care how "gryoscopically" it's balanced; it'll get knocked over or worse, it's legs it'll get blown off, and then it'll be useless.

Lower it and put it on tracks and I bet it could carry a much larger load, and move much faster as well.

[Jason @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:09PM]

And how much will this freaking thing cost? Seems like a total waste of cash. If the military invested half the money into developing caseless ammo they wouldn't need this piece of crap. Probably makes moving covertly impossible as well.

But I for one do welcome our new Fido Robo overlords.

[Jake @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:12PM]

Did you say "gasoline?" As in, internal combustion?

1. That's gotta be the noisiest freakin' robot ever.
2. They figured that a walk-along packmule FULL OF EXPLOSIVE/INCENDIARY FUEL was the best option for assisting our troops in the theater of battle??

It'll be like video game: shoot the BigDog first, then take out the stragglers.

[chris @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:17PM]

This is a total rip off from George Lucas's Imperial AT-AT Walker in Star Wars! Everybody knows you can disable one these vehicles by flying a cable around the legs pulled behind a snowspeeder.

[PodMonkeys @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:27PM]

That is a really really neat piece of hardware for showing what they've done with self adjusting walking robots, but man it sure is loud. Given that its just a prototype, and we're still early in this sort of thing, it looks like a good sign of the progress.

For actual troop usage its going to have to be a lot faster and a lot quieter. A larger weight capacity would be good too. But again, this is probably a prototype, and we've still got a ways to go. Good sign of future things.

For 3#, The tracks on a tank are the weakest part. No matter how armored the tank is, the tracks are still the most vulnerable part of a tank. It doesn't really take much to blow tank treads, which immobilizes the tank. Studies actually showed that tracks were no more resistant to damage than the tires on some APCs.

Of course, for getting knocked over, its harder to knock over the treaded robot. The legged robot might be able to walk over terrain a tracked robot might not. Of course, a legged robot would get stuck in certain terrain a tracked robot wouldn't. So all in all, its all about best robot for the job. maybe we'll need an army of legged, wheeled, and tracked robots.

[MElias @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:28PM]

if this robo-mule is good for the Empire (read "if this Imperial AT-AT Walker-wannabe is good for the Empire") it is good for the military...

[Dustin @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:56PM]

If you can't ruck up equipment and drive on, you shouldn't be in the military. Period

[tiuk @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:58PM]

The movement of that thing's legs has to be the creepiest thing I've seen in a long time. When the video first started it actually looked like two pairs of human legs sticking out of some machine. Eerie.

[skantilous @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:03PM]

um so, this robot will have to carry its own fuel? great, so 15 pounds of it will need to be fuel. and when it dies who carrie the robot private? shit that thing has to be be pretty expensive. If they want to pay me the amount that it costs to build one of those, i'll carry the stupid 120 pounds. if it was like 500 then i can see this being worth it.

[Loban @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:21PM]

I love it when people see a pure R&D project and make all these assumptions about how useful/unuseful it's going to be after reading a small article and watching a quick 5 minute video.

The first cars were slow, loud, noisy, unreliable, expensive and didn't give people many reasons to ditch the horse and buggy. But I think this whole automobile thing may just catch on after all, don't you?

[Adam Rice @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:36PM]

Then again, they could just use pack animals. Harder for defense contractors to cash in on that, I know...

[Skan @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:40PM]

#6 That is the exact same thing that popped in my head when I saw the picture!!!! LOL!

Where does engadget find this stuff?? Looks exactly like an AT-AT walker from Star Wars! Too funny!

[Adam @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:52PM]

lol...that thing looks freakin hilarious! Kinda like those machines in Star Wars. Attacking the Aibos...priceless

[jan @ Mar 3rd 2006 5:01PM]

cow tipping just got more profitable

[south @ Mar 3rd 2006 6:09PM]

that video looks like a nightmare i once had after reading Snow Crash.

also, it's a sign of things to come that I actually felt pangs of sympathy for the robot every time someone walked up and tried to kick it over.

[Dan @ Mar 3rd 2006 6:34PM]

looks about 100X as expensive as a donkey

[Skan @ Mar 3rd 2006 6:34PM]

What happens if you tip it over?
Lets all go BigDog tipping!!! =O)
Did they program these things to sniff your crotch too?

[Jkeentauna @ Mar 3rd 2006 6:54PM]

they could at least paint it a decent color.
and put machine guns on it.

[evo @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:03PM]

I'd rather have this to carry my luggage through the airport than Fido luggage.

[strider_mt2k @ Mar 3rd 2006 10:00PM]

I for one welcome our Robotic Pushmepullyou overlords...
http://simpsons.metropoliglobal.com/fotogramas/1f13/23.jpg

[robot projeleri @ Mar 4th 2006 10:13AM]

it's have large dimensions. But design is wonderful especially the main body is frightening.
if it can bark, I'll be much scared :)

[Loker @ Mar 4th 2006 3:34PM]

the thing to keep in mind about the noise is that it actually runs off electricity....that engine just generates the electricity for it...so if you replace that engine with some batteries it will be almost silent.....and also keep in mind this is just one of the first revisions it will carry more by the time it makes it to market....

[Nico @ Mar 6th 2006 7:09AM]

Yes this is great. They invented the mechanical donkey. Well spendt R&D money right there.

Im sure this has uses in the research department but do not expect to see these in combat anytime soon. Way way to impractical for now.

[Ken Zemach @ Mar 6th 2006 12:01PM]

Yet again, another Defense Department funded effort by people who have not a clue about what really goes on in a warzone... How's that SWORDS program going? What? Still not working? Still not arrived in OIF? Huh... who would have figured....

Ahhh, yet another day to beat my head against the wall.

[Raymond @ Mar 6th 2006 5:45PM]

no... Its like some freaky mutant. I want to shoot it and forget it ever existed. its too lifelike. I want it dead.

[Mert @ Mar 7th 2006 4:57AM]

For that idea of using real animals:
In WW2 the Russians, inspired by the experiments of Igor Pavlov (the psychologist who discovered the nature of conditioned responses: a.k.a. Pavlov's Dogs) decided to train dogs to fight the oncoming menace of German Panzers. So they set out to condition their dogs to find food under tanks, planning to strap anti-tank mines on their backs and set them loose on the advancing german columns as live guided anti tank weapons(how cruel can you get?). And so they did when the Germans finally showed up. But SURPRISE!! The dogs were actually smart enough to tell a German panzer from a Russian tank, and guess what, they were trained to find food under RUSSIAN tanks!!! So, they quickly turned back and blew out a sizable chunk out of the defending Russian tank batallion, under the shocked eyes of their trainers (serves them right I'd say) The project was quickly scrapped the next day.
The idea is: You should be very careful about who you include in your dirty war :)

[That guy @ Mar 7th 2006 5:55PM]

This may be a great thing, but they should considering a 50 feet monster and send it to Tokyo.

[mediaphile @ Mar 7th 2006 8:55PM]

absolutely, 100% terrifying. i will not be sleeping well tonight.

that said, here are a few things they'll have to do to make this viable:

* make these things faster
* make them quieter
* give them high-speed radar that can move the legs out of a bullet's path
* give it the ability to jump
* armor it, especially the fuel tank
* arm it, so it can fight back

that is a damn good start. i can't wait to see where this goes.

and at the same time, i'm terrified of where this will go.

[BArt @ Mar 8th 2006 2:23PM]

No one is going to be aiming at its legs when there's a large center of mass to aim at. As they continue working on it, it will improve, even dramatically.

Now if you combined this with that Sentry Turret or a modified Landwarrior system or mortars etc... well that would open a whole new can of worms.

Imagine a fully automated combat force: it wouldn't need to set up camp, eat, sleep or suffer combat fatigue. Just crews a miles away doing 8hr shifts operating the machines... sounds romantic, no?

[Jean @ Mar 19th 2006 11:51AM]

Can you say Mechanical Hound from Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451"??? This is pretty cool.

[Scott @ Sep 29th 2007 2:19PM]

Up the load capacity to ~190 pounds, and I'll have one. Riding to work on a robot - priceless.

[hungarian33 @ Oct 7th 2007 9:04AM]

Its just like is says on that weird site, www.orangekite.com