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Boston Dynamics shows a quieter, more thoroughbred AlphaDog to DARPA and the Marines (video)
When we last saw Boston Dynamics' AlphaDog (aka LS3), it was strutting through outdoor trials with the subtlety of a nuclear missile: for all that noise, it might as well have been holding a "shoot here please" sign broadcasting American soldiers' positions to everyone in the forest. Several months later, the company is showing both DARPA and the Marine Corps a refined version of its load-carrying robot that has clearly been through a few rounds of obedience school. While we still wouldn't call the four-legged hauler stealthy, it's quiet enough to avoid the role of bullet magnet and lets nearby troops chat at reasonable volumes. And yes, there's new tricks as well. AlphaDog can speed up its travel over difficult surfaces and move at up to a 5MPH jog, all while it's following a human squad. DARPA and the Marines recently began testing and improving the robot over a two-year period that should culminate in an Advanced Warfighting Experiment with the Marines to test viability under stress. If AlphaDog passes that bar, there's a good chance many on-foot soldiers will have a mechanical companion -- and quite a weight lifted off of their shoulders.
Boston Dynamics Alpha Dog makes Alyx Vance's pet look like a toy (video)
Boston Dynamics' BigDog is one of our favorite insane-level DARPA projects; a robotic pack-mule that can carry 400 pounds of kit for troops. At some point, the Massachusetts mechanics decided the bot would be far better if it was the size of a bull, or, you know, an SUV. The Alpha Dog loses the un-stealthy buzzing noise of its predecessor, has a range of 20 miles and can take much more punishment. If you check out the video after the break, you'll see two people unsuccessfully attempt a takedown on the monster -- Half-Life 2 diehards might experience a combat flashback at the mere sight of it. AT-AT Jr is expected to see field testing sometime next year when it won't have a test bed of rocks to contend with, but the US Marines. Mark our words: we expect 'em to appear in every nightmarish dystopia of the 2020s, and take a starring role in the forthcoming Robopocalypse.
Free picture pack and theme: Alpha Dog
Don't you just love free themes and picture packs? They give you that warm fuzzy feeling, that urge to want to succeed, and those happy shakes. So with that, Major Nelson sends word that Universal Pictures is offering a free picture pack and theme for their upcoming movie Alpha Dog. We understand that these offerings are just more marketing for their little movie, but for those of you who like to use custom backgrounds and hate not being able to match your guide to it, then we have a little trick for you. When you change the background of your dashboard it will keep the last theme's colors/design for the guide. So, if you collect all of these free themes you'll have numerous different guide colors/designs to choose from. Then you can mix and match these colors/designs with your own custom backgrounds and shazaam! A matching (moderately custom) guide for your customized background. Pretty nifty trick huh? We thought of it ourselves.Note: This Alpha Dog theme's guide is original grey, so our little customization idea doesn't really apply ... oh well.
