http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUoW43Xq7ts

Wow that is simply amazing. Thanks for sharing

So when I see an army of these things coming... ill know I can't kick em over. Ill have to lift them and then flip em. Mental note.

It's kind of "creepy-cool", like these r/c ornithopters...

http://www.flytechonline.com/dragonfly_index.html

I have one BTW, it's totally fun!

I got one as well.
My cat flips out, can't quite work out if she should attack it.

Funny, when I fly mine every cat in the neighborhood comes out of the woodwork.

r/c ornithopters rules.
I would like to build and fly one, when i get the time for it -and money. (I would go for a more bird like apperence).
-seagull, i think -amazing bird, fantastic glideing abilities.

Thats one of the funniest things ever, robotic pack mule rofl. Still i guess if they can get the size of the machine down and its carrying capacity up you would see people going down the streets in these all terrain pack mules.

Considering that Big Dog is already mil spec approved for carrying 150lbs into combat...I think it is sooner than later we will see these on the streets. Kurzweil's Singularity indeed....

You know, I came back to this thread because the thought suddenly struck me.

This is M.U.L.E. in our lifetime, on Earth not Irata. Course, gotta have the cool theme song.

I assume the dog cannot recover from a tumble? The video shows no sign of how precisely it can be guided - like through a tight squeeze. And how about gopher holes? Running up against a wall? I'll have to dig deeper as this is a pretty cool gizmo.

In any case that is one hair-raising looking gait is has. Very eerie.

Updated Big Dog Video!
I like, there at the end when it jumps, it almost looks excited.

Notice how there is a defined obstacle there on the ground when it jumps - two yellowish lines delineating an obstacle with a slightly darker patch of flooring in between the lines. Do you know if that is autonomously recognized or someone is at the controls for that jump?

I wonder if it has any optical obstacle avoidance gear on board?

The ice recovery was quite impressive too.

I wonder how many trials they make before a success? Did the dog fall many times before successfully negotiating the ice patch I wonder?

Not trying to detract at all from this impressive achievement just thinking out loud.

Back to the ice - I guess they kinda wanted it to slip - otherwise they'd have put some cleats on the leg tips.

The response time and multi-jointed flexibility of the system coupled with the payload capability is nothing short of amazing to me.

That thing is awesome!

It would have to have some kind of "radar-based" or camera-based obstacle recognition as it doesn't walk into any trees when walking unassisted through the forest.

I didn't observe real closely but I didn't detect any active avoidance moves during the forest hill ascent. Perhaps that was just good film editing?

IIRC this thing is being put forth as a kind of slave for field ops. So, it could simply follow someone carrying a payload. Truly an electronic dog of sorts - hence the name. I guess that sounded better than mule or something?

You gotta at least figure that much of it was autonomous, other wise why tape it? I mean yeah it was a big obvious obstacle, but that just kinda supports the idea that it is in fact autonomous. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that peeps that do this stuff for a living aren't in the habit of specifically trying to delude the public with their progress. Maybe the guys they are gettin funding from but prolly not youtube... Maybe.

Well, I, for one, wouldn't feel at all slighted were it to be in fact the case that the jump was with human assist or the forest hill climb. I don't want anyone to get the idea that I'm poo-pooing this thing at all. It's probably the coolest robotic demonstration I have ever seen in my life.

It looks like there's a Big Dog contender out there.

Take a look!

Just caught this...hysterical.