New BigDog Robot Video

John860 writes "The US company Boston Dynamics has released an amazing new video of its quadruped robot BigDog. The highlight of the video (at 1:24) shows how the robot starts slipping on ice, almost falls several times, but finally regains its balance and continues walking. The video also shows the robot's ability to cope with different types of terrains, climb and descend steep slopes, and jump. Two years ago, the older version of BigDog was already able to climb slopes, keep its balance after a strong kick, and walk on rough terrain like stones, mud, and snow. The new version weighs 235 lbs and can carry a payload of up to 340 lbs, a factor of 4 better than its predecessor."

Kick

[tsa]

I saw the video a few days ago. The most impressive part for me was when this guy kicked the machine, and it struggled to find its (not it's, you misspellers!) balance back. Look at the legs go! It looks so real it's (it is) amazing! The part where it climbed the rubble was also impressive. It looks like the thing has eyes that it uses to find out where it should put its feet.

Creepy

[GodfatherofSoul]

Is anyone else creeped out by how natural the movements of this robot are? Maybe it's the lack of a head and the ominous buzz-of-death, I don't know. As I recall, there's some theoretical curve for robots where the human acceptance of a robot dramatically drops at a sweet spot as reality is approached and doesn't rise until reality is achieved. This robot definitely falls in that zone for me.

Simply Amazing.

[Sterrance]

It reacting to a kick was so lifelike I wanted to call Peta. I frankly don't see the actual use in war, besides transporting things, I can't wait till they make toy versions.

Re:Kick

[sapphire wyvern]

The rear limbs are a bit dog-like, but the forelimbs are the same only turned the other way around. That's why it doesn't seem doglike to me.

If you took two dogs and strapped them together, facing each other, with their forelimbs in the air and only their rear limbs on the ground... and made them telepathic... they might move a bit like that!

I find the part where it slips on the ice particularly impressive - although BigDog seemed to come perilously close to a broken limb in the incident! I think most humans faced with that kind of situation would end up sitting on their rears with a rueful expression.

Re:Creepy

[lendude]

I found the anthropomorphic factor of this robot thru' the roof, mostly I think because of its movement characteristics. It immediately reminded me of an old German Shepard once in our family, particularly the sequence on ice when it badly slipped: it looked exactly like our poor old shep when his back legs went on him. Man, I almost shed a tear at that point of the vid!

They may have to think about toning this aspect down for war time scenarios - I can well imagine soldiers going to 'old yella's' assistance when he comes under fire!

Re:Creepy

[Gabest]

Yes it's so real, but what still bothers me is the constant/fast step rate. If I were climbing a hill or walked on ice I would spend varying ammount of time to look for safe spots on the ground, and perhaps test them a bit before fully putting my weight on my feet.

True Test

[TFer_Atvar]

Bring it up here to Alaska. I'll believe in the technology when it walks from Fairbanks to Barrow. I'll even let them use bridges to get across the rivers.

This is bigger than you think

[Oddster]

Robot locomotion of that quality is probably one of the most difficult problems to solve - the robustness of that thing was quite impressive - it survived rubble, snow, ice, and a solid kick that sent it tumbling. I'd really like to know how they did it, if they just managed to perfect current techniques with enough DARPA money or came up with something new - I would imagine it required some very accurate sensors and actuators, and a super-high-precision inverse-kinematics solver. If they can couple that together with a super-accurate local navigation system - which I imagine would be the easy half in comparison - then they've got a huge platform to launch consumer-grade robots if they get to a low enough price (and they do something about the noise). Maybe I will have a robot butler in my lifetime, but it looks like the military gets their mules first.

Cool, yes. Useful?

[goodmanj]

This is a pretty cool tech demo, but at the moment, its battlefield utility is zero. That two-stroke engine buzz is going to alert every bad guy for miles around.

Since it needs to be able to exert pretty big forces very quickly, I doubt they're going to lower the power requirements, so I highly doubt they're going to be able to use a quieter power source like batteries or fuel cells. Nothing beats the power-to-weight ratio of internal combusion.

Me, I'd go with a real live mule instead for all applications you'd use this in. Same payload capacity, not much bigger, totally silent, self-refuelling, costs $hundreds rather than $hojillions.

Re:Kick

[0111 1110]

if you took two dogs and strapped them together, facing each other, with their forelimbs in the air and only their rear limbs on the ground... and made them telepathic... they might move a bit like that!

The first time I saw this Boston Robotics thing (the earlier version), I had no context for the video clip, nothing to tell me it was a robot. So it reeaally creeped me out big time. And the loud engine actually made it even more scary. I thought maybe it was some sick, brutal, military experiment in commanding a real, but mutilated animal, a hybrid dog-machine, like those experiments being done with rats. Has anyone else here seen No Telling [imdb.com]? I suspect that if I hadn't seen that movie I might not have been so creeped out.

That gasoline engine really reduces its practicality though for anything other than a pack mule. They need to work on adding an RTG [wikipedia.org] to it along with some of those newly developed high efficiency solar cells. So it will be nearly silent and not need recharging for like 80 years. Also they definitely need a head with video camera eyes with green lasers and/or high intensity IR lights behind them as well, a hydraulic jaw controlling a mouth filled with hundreds of hollow, hardened, stainless steel shark teeth filled and coated with a potent neurotoxin [asanltr.com] like maybe palytoxin or tetrodotoxin. A minigun [wikipedia.org] hidden in its mouth is obviously mandatory. It should also be able to cough VX nerve gas from a small compressed cylinder in it's throat and spit concentrated nitric acid. And of course it would need microphone ears and a tail to aid in balance when running and some fur and leather/kevlar skin to help protect its electronics from the elements and the occasional bullet. If they could make it pass for a real dog they could even fill its belly with explosives to self destruct near enemy troops or if captured. And of course they should really add some wings and make it into an ornithopter as well. And how about a really cool howl like the one in American Werewolf in London or some even more creeptastic sound. Great for shock and awe. Also great for crowd control of anti-war protesters etc.

Of course a nonmilitary version with the RTG and solar cells could be sent to explore mars.

The jump...

[loafula]

I was amazed the first time watching this when the robot jumped the mat. It appeared that the bot was smart enough not only to jump the exact width of the mat, but also nimble enoug to plant it's front and back legs in exactly the same places. I watched through a second time, and while the legs do plant in the same spot, the mat is actually moved a few inches back while the robot is in mid-air.

Re:Kick

[kd4zqe]

Some people might be calling shenanigans because there are sections of the video that are accelerated for time and look a little weird. As far as the robot's movements, I see more in common with the gait of a deer or other ungulates. There also seems to be a bit of a learning curve on new terrain that simulates a newborn fawn or horse when attempting to find footing for the first time. They've done a remarkable job simulating these natural aspects or quadrapeds.

As for the dog reference, it could be a play on the goal of being the ultimately loyal, new, man's-best-friend.

Re:Simply Amazing.

[Unoti]

this could be likely achieved with other conventional robotic conveyance mechanisms... I agree with parent about this being mostly a pack mule.

Keep in mind this is an early version. Future versions might be like a pack mules when needed, but a group of lightning fast completely silent wolves on demand.

Uncanny Valley...

[jpellino]

And this bad boy is in a race to the bottom of it.

Let's just hope they don't mount Kismet's head on this thing.