Boston Dynamics claims BigDog is the most advanced quadruped robot on earth. BigDog is the size of a large dog or a small mule; measuring 1 meter (39”) long, 0.7 meters (27”) tall and 75 kg (75 lbs or 11.8 stones) weight. BigDog relies on four legs designed like those of a quadrupedal animal.
Legged robots have the ability to follow troops on long journeys across extremely difficult terrain. This prototype of a 4-legged robot that can walk, run, and climbs on rough terrain (including mud and snow).
We were instantly reminded of “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” where the Imperial AT-AT Walkers at the Battle of Hoth were created by using stop motion photography. Improvements in a legged robot's agility could only come when the robot could operate each leg independently without sacrificing the machine's stability. BigDog can walk up a 35 degree incline with ease. (Warning: turn down your sound for this video, because the gasoline engine is loud.)
Big Dog is funded by a $10 million (USD) grant from DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). With its quadruped gait BigDog can regain balance if it's kicked, climb over a pile of rubble, and can carry 350 pounds - the load equivalent of five soldier's full combat back packs. Work on BigDog began in 2002 as part of DARPA's biorobotics program, which launched that same year and was at the time called "biodynotics" (for biologically inspired multi functional dynamic robotics).
BigDog has an on-board computer that controls locomotion, servos for the legs, and handles a wide variety of sensors. BigDog’s control system manages the dynamics of its behavior to keep it balanced, steer, navigate, and regulate energetics as conditions vary. Sensors for locomotion include joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a laser gyroscope, and a stereo vision system. Other sensors focus on the internal state of BigDog, monitoring the hydraulic pressure, oil temperature, engine temperature, rpm, battery charge and others.
Robert Mandelbaum, a program manager in DARPA's Information Processing Techniques and Tactical Technology offices, says that legged robots save the military from having to build roads and can travel across rugged areas just like pack mules. Since the American military is not going to extract themselves from Iraq and Afghanistan any time soon, The Department of Defense plans to deploy prototype BigDog legged robots by January, 2009.
BigDog's developer, Boston Dynamics, is an engineering company that specializes in robotics and human simulation. Sony Corporation turned to Boston Dynamics for help developing its line of entertainment robots. They adapted their physics-based human simulation to work for Sony’s humanoid robot, QRIO.
Bog Dog the legged robot, which at times resembles two people walking while carrying an overturned raft over their heads, is really amazing technology. Of course that spawned a hilarious spoof video. Clearly, Boston Dynamics has stirred a lot of interest in legged robots if somebody will put this much effort into a spoof. X |