Blog Post:Boston Dynamics, makers of our beloved BigDog robot, have just announced their newest project: to build a bipedal humanoid robot called PETMAN. As part of a $26.3M Army contract, the Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin will be "the first anthropomorphic robot that moves dynamically like a real person.â''
A rendering of PETMAN in its test chamber. Image courtesy Boston Dynamics.
PETMAN is designed to test the suits used by soldiers to protect themselves against chemical warfare agents. It has to be capable of moving just like a soldier -- walking, running, bending, reaching, army crawling …
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Like iRobot, the good folks at Boston Dynamics (makers of the famous Big Dog and other awesome robots) have created their own YouTube channel. More importantly, all their videos are there in high-definition (after you start playing, click on the "HD" button in the bottom of the YouTube window), making for a superior creepy-robot-watching experience. Though Big Dog is the most famous of Boston Dynamics's technology, their other robots (like Little Dog and RHex) make an appearance as well.
This one, below, is an example of a video that looks great in high def and it's also one I …
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Two new items and one I should have mentioned a long time ago:
Boston Dynamics, of BigDog fame, looks likely to get a new contract from DARPA to build the next gen of their creepy yet awesome quadruped. Though the proposals aren't due till next year (and take it from a defense contractor, these things tend to be delayed even more), the specs appear to be tailored for the Big Dog design and Boston Dynamics is certainly the best contender. The solicitation, titled "Legged Squad Support System (LS3)", specifies improvements to terrain handling features, increased payload capabilities, …
AMAM 2008 was a one-week, single-track conference, including four keynotes, over 70 posters, and a "robot zoo" populated by a menagerie of mobile machines. The coffee break buzz indicated that most of the 150 attendees found the meeting to be a superb confluence of the cutting edge in bio-inspired robotics.
Locomotion specialists from both biology and engineering were well represented, and the meeting continually …
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A report from our correspondent Sally Adee, who earlier this month was at DARPATech, the Pentagon's R&D extravaganza, where she met, among other creatures, a little robotic dog called, well, Little Dog:
This little guy was all the rage at the DARPATech 2007 exhibit hall.
â''Can I pet him?â'' a girl asked the researchers standing next to it. â''No,â'' they told her. â''Can I have him?â'' she insisted. â''No, sorry." She thought about it for a minute. â''Can I talk to him?â'' she finally asked. â''Well, you could,â'' the researchers …