Big Dog rules
Caution: weird sound in the video
This robot, dubbed BigDog, was developed by Boston Dynamics. It’s main feature is the ability to walk through rough terrain the way animals and humans walk (controlled freefall i’d call it), as opposed to moving limbs simply at preprogrammed trajectories. DARPA invested $10M in its development for military use. I doubt these will be sold to general public anytime soon, but keep in mind — its max. payload is 340 pounds so you could potentionally ride it like a horse with a remote in your hands :)
Boston Dynamics also makes a number of other robots designed for rough terrain, including RHex, featured in the video below:
30th April 2008
