I find any research involving robots
awesome. It brings me a step closer to having that robot army I always wanted
(the one in my basement doesn’t count, as it’s made of Legos). Fortunately,
Boston Dynamics, with the help of DARPA (Department of Awesome Robot Powered
Armies, if memory serves), is building robots out of sturdier components than
Legos (and you don’t have to move them or make sound-effects yourself).
Their largest walking robot is the
LS3, (Legged Squad Support System). It’s designed to carry equipment over
terrain that wheeled or treaded vehicles can’t handle. It’s a larger version of
their BigDog robot, which can run up to 4 miles per hour and climb 35 degree
slopes, which gives it capabilities similar to mine if I’m feeling motivated. Unlike
me, it can also go 12 miles without stopping and carry 340 pounds. The larger
LS3 will be capable of going 20 miles, and carrying 400 pounds. Based on the
description, I immediately thought miniature AT-AT (All Terrain Assault Transport), but without
the turbo-lasers (yet).
The LS3 isn’t quite as badass (and has no lasers at all, let alone turbo-lasers), but it does have some advantages. Because of the lower ground clearance, it would be impossible to fly a snow-speeder through the legs of the LS3. Also, it exists in reality.
Boston Dynamics’
other recent creation is the Cheetah, which holds the speed record for a legged
robot, and recently surpassed the speed record for bipedal legged mammals
(Usain Bolt’s top speed of 27.8 mph). Admittedly, it uses four legs, which is basically
cheating (I just saved you from a really terrible pun. Be grateful). The
Cheetah’s record of 28.3 mph is still pretty far behind actual cheetahs, which
have been clocked at 75 mph. Though it lacks the speed of an actual cheetah, the
Cheetah does run in the same manner, flexing its back with each step.
Like any fan of 1980’s Japanese cartoons
that were ripped off and recombined into loosely related English language
versions, when someone says robot cheetah, I think Voltron (which Apple auto-corrects to volition).
So, yeah, the
Cheetah would look a whole lot cooler with a head (and four other Cheetahs of
different colors that could combine with it to form a giant humanoid robot with
a sword). It would also be improved by not being powered by an external hydraulic
pump and requiring a boom-like device to keep it in the middle of the
treadmill. Fortunately, they’re still working on it and should have these
problems remedied in the near future.
While Boston
Dynamics may be several years from providing me with the robot army I require,
their legged robots are still steps in the right direction (sorry, I couldn’t
help it).
