http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/ Engadget Comments for BigDog robot to carry gear for troops http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 3rd 2006 2:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
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.]]>Mar 3rd 2006 2:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
Lower it and put it on tracks and I bet it could carry a much larger load, and move much faster as well.]]>Mar 3rd 2006 3:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
But I for one do welcome our new Fido Robo overlords.]]>Mar 3rd 2006 3:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
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.]]>Mar 3rd 2006 3:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 3rd 2006 3:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
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. ]]>Mar 3rd 2006 3:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 3rd 2006 3:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 3rd 2006 3:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 3rd 2006 3:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 3rd 2006 4:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
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?]]>Mar 3rd 2006 4:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 3rd 2006 4:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
Where does engadget find this stuff?? Looks exactly like an AT-AT walker from Star Wars! Too funny!]]>Mar 3rd 2006 4:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 3rd 2006 4:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 3rd 2006 5:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
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.]]>Mar 3rd 2006 6:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 3rd 2006 6:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Lets all go BigDog tipping!!! =O)
Did they program these things to sniff your crotch too?]]>Mar 3rd 2006 6:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/and put machine guns on it.]]>Mar 3rd 2006 6:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 3rd 2006 8:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://simpsons.metropoliglobal.com/fotogramas/1f13/23.jpg]]>Mar 3rd 2006 10:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/if it can bark, I'll be much scared :)]]>Mar 4th 2006 10:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 4th 2006 3:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
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.]]>Mar 6th 2006 7:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
Ahhh, yet another day to beat my head against the wall.]]>Mar 6th 2006 12:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 6th 2006 5:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/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 :)]]>Mar 7th 2006 4:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 7th 2006 5:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
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.]]>Mar 7th 2006 8:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/
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?


]]>Mar 8th 2006 2:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Mar 19th 2006 11:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Sep 29th 2007 2:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops/Oct 7th 2007 9:04AM