It's only been a few months since we heard from the whiz kids over at Boston Dynamics, and honestly, we've been waiting on pins and needles to see what miracle would emerge from its labs next. Said outfit has just been awarded a contract by Sandia to build the next generation of the Precision Urban Hopper, which will be a four-wheeled jumping robot that can navigate autonomously. When it rolls into battle, it'll also be equipped with a single jumping leg, giving it the ability to hop over fences, giant humans, Gort or anything else that's 25 feet tall. Best of all, testing and delivery is scheduled for late 2010, so if you were planning on getting on our bad side, you should probably have a look at the video past the break. Chances are you'll be second guessing that urge.
Nah a crackhead would jump a fence twice as high if you told em there was a ounce rock on the other side. Unimpressed. I made a similar device years ago out of one of those r/c cars with the spinning front wheels, instead of wheels spinning I had Blades.......
need to add a speaker so it can scream battle cries every time it clears a fence! nothing like a tiny wheeled box dropping out of the sky bellowing "GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOOOO" to keep the bad guys on their toes.
I've got one of those (flippie RC cars) that run even when upside down. Maybe I should add some high tension springs with a paddle on both sides and a green laser.
Are you kidding? The military has all sorts of cool alternative energy devices - at worst just strap a radioactive rod in it to run it that way it can jump over enemy lines then go into meltdown mode.
That seems like a bit of a design flaw, since this thing is clearly designed to be able to move around facing either side up, and there's no way to tell which way up it'll land once it gets to the other side of the fence. Either they plan to give it *two* legs, or it might not be coming back.
I dunno, one leg with the necessary hardware to turn it around seems less cost-effective than two legs, but then again I have no idea how they've implemented this.
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posted Sep 15th 2009 10:46AM
Add a freakin LASER then we'll talk.
No, make them look like spiders and jump on humans. LOL.
maybe then.. they could name it "Yoda".. :p
Silly Grammar Delinquent, Lasers are for (kids) Dolphin.
Amazing! Want one of these!
haha why couldn't my RC cars as a kid do this? bull****
You probably could have gotten one, if your parents loved you more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPRaazbQM2E
Ah!, that things jumps real high.
Yeh, i wonder how long the batteries last? It's not much use if it can only perform four hops before falling asleep.
Nah a crackhead would jump a fence twice as high if you told em there was a ounce rock on the other side. Unimpressed. I made a similar device years ago out of one of those r/c cars with the spinning front wheels, instead of wheels spinning I had Blades.......
Man, that cant be good for it on the impact!
Lol
Maybe it's supposed to jump, then blow up on impact.. >:)
now you just need a couple of those tiny missiles from iron man's arm and it's GAME ON FOR R/C DEATH WAR!
*cue hair-metal guitar riff*
Thats the first thing that popped into my head too.
great minds think alike, my friend
All they need to do is make these 20x bigger and we can all have some Twisted Metal fun... Go go Grasshopper!
I was thinking Speed Racer.
Wowzers, now that's what I call a jump. Can I get my car equipped with one of those?
Is there an app for that?
No, no there's not.
Actually there is. It's called iJump. Also check out "iTerancehearbydeclareimgay". Best app on App Store if you ask me.
Mmmm.. let's see it jump a fence that is surrounded by loose ground cover (i.e.- sand, mud, gravel)
need to add a speaker so it can scream battle cries every time it clears a fence! nothing like a tiny wheeled box dropping out of the sky bellowing "GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOOOO" to keep the bad guys on their toes.
Or it could play the "bionic sound effect", you know from the 6 million dollar man.
i just pissed in my pants
@polymath
I had people staring at me since i literally bursted out laughing at that comment. thank you sir for making my day=)
Old news my friends......KITT has this feature decades ago.
Interesting...wonder, what else does it do?...
No, no there's not.
OMG Engadget fail AGAIN!
This is a response Endgadget.
No one comment on the next article so Engadget fixes this.
I've seen this too many times this week...
I've got one of those (flippie RC cars) that run even when upside down. Maybe I should add some high tension springs with a paddle on both sides and a green laser.
Look DARPA no funds! ;)
Holy crap! Somebody get this thing a basketball and a robotic arm, NOW!
How many times can it do that on a single charge/"tank" of fuel?
Are you kidding? The military has all sorts of cool alternative energy devices - at worst just strap a radioactive rod in it to run it that way it can jump over enemy lines then go into meltdown mode.
We should send a thousand of these to the middle east and strap C4 on them to do some remote detonation.
looks pretty sweet
holy crap, i want one. that's pretty neat
"a single jumping leg"...?
That seems like a bit of a design flaw, since this thing is clearly designed to be able to move around facing either side up, and there's no way to tell which way up it'll land once it gets to the other side of the fence. Either they plan to give it *two* legs, or it might not be coming back.
Or the leg can point in either direction? You can't actually believe that they haven't thought of this, can you?
Nah, but I figured the article got it wrong.
I dunno, one leg with the necessary hardware to turn it around seems less cost-effective than two legs, but then again I have no idea how they've implemented this.
Either way, the thing is cool.
http://www.thomsonrctrack.com/IMG_1480.JPG
I had one of these =)
9 for style, 6.8 for landing.
Will it Blend?
Nope, batteries explode in blenders and then kill the idiots that tried to blend it.
Damn... thats crazy. and to know that location is only a half mile away from my house. and it can jump over the facilitys perimeter walls. haha lol
you can just go ahead and stop commenting....forever.
^sarcasm^
FANTASTIC gallery! Great work Team Engadget!!
^/sarcasm^
-jp
Make it have a camera and turn invisible as well like 20 miles of range so we can spy what they are doing in area-51!
That thing is flat-out balls to the wall awesome. IT JUMPS LIKE 25 TIMES IT'S BODY HEIGHT. I need this thing!
uhhh, wasn't that the Tyco Ricochet? c'mon santa...