I happened upon this video recently. It is a video of a legged locomotion machine that is funded by DARPA. DARPA is known by some as the “Mad Scientist” wing of the Pentagon and is famous for several things, including the autonomous vehicle race through traffic in November of last year. I find it to be both intriguing and creepy. It’s also a bit noisy, but I have had coffee makers that could compare to it. 😕 Look at how closely the legs on this machine resemble human legs as it corrects itself when it stumbles (or someone kicks it). Freaky!
That being said, if I were in the woods while this thing came trouncing by, I would have shat myself instantly, and cried like a little girl.
That was just plain creepy and totally cool at the same time. The that thing would correct itself after slipping. the kick was amazing. the reaction time and for lack of a better word, instinct of this thing is what creeps me out.
I’m with Jim – JAG: this is both creepy AND cool. It’s an amazing technological feat. I’ve seen horses lose it on ice and they didn’t do as well as Big Dog at correcting. Trying to walk on ice got me knee surgery. And through the snow like that. Plus a 350 lb. payload. How’d you like to be hunkered down in Waziristan and see that coming at you with an M-249 mounted on it?
Even without the M-249 mounted on it I would be scared of it. It’s just too creepy…
This thing can definitely stand up better than I can. I could probably out run it until I tried to cross a frozen lake, then it would catch up to me. 🙂
I think you could mount more than a M-249 on that sucker, it said payload was 340 pounds!! it would take recoil of a Deuce .50 or better and keep going. Its creepy but extremely cool and shows you something really important – if they are doing that and its public, imagine what sort of technology is classified or even buried deeper! I have always felt the government has a lot to hide (I mean huge, mind melting extreme), an example is where did we get the technology for the SR-71 Blackbird SO LONG ago and to date we have not matched it publicly so to speak. Think about it.. How long did it take for the GP to learn of its existence? A good while, what came after that though not counting satellite/space intel.