We truly are living in the future, while we may not have perfected hoverboards or flying cars (yet) there are a great many things we take for granted that are truly amazing. As a species we’ve walked on the moon, sent remote control cars to Mars, have instant global communication with video capability, touchscreen devices attached to the collective information of the world, and more. The phone you likely have in your pocket has more computing power than the entirety of ground control for the Apollo missions. We sent a craft (Voyager) into deep space, we’re making discoveries across the universe daily. 3D printers are being used to make everything from everyday objects to working organs. It’s truly an amazing time to be alive. So amazing in fact that we’re drowning in information and something as awesome as what Boston Dynamics is doing can go largely unnoticed.
Have you seen their robots? They are incredible, and they don’t have just one, they have an array. Boston Dynamics is a heavy hitter in the world of robotics, they’ve received DARPA funding (you’ll remember them as hosting the robotics challenge that gave us NASA’s Valkyrie) and have used it to build some pretty serious, pretty awesome, and in at least one case, pretty terrifying robots. BD has used biological models to build these fantastic monstrosities. Atlas and Petman are anthropomorphic, while others are based on dogs, cheetahs, and fleas.
Recently Boston Dynamics was acquired by Google. Google has swept up a number of robotics companies lately for their “moonshot” robotics division but BD is certainly the best card in their hand. So what is Google up to? They’ve been pretty quiet about their intentions but they have already proven themselves in regard to software, acquiring some impressive hardware makes them a force to be reckoned with. After seeing these robots it’s easy to start imagining a dystopian future where Google has become Skynet and we’re being pursued by advanced robotic opponents. So let’s see what we’re up against.
Atlas
Atlas is one of BD’s anthropomorphic robots, based on human anatomy and built to do things that humans can do but bigger, better, stronger. Unlike most of the other robots they’ve designed this one walks bipedally leaving its upper limbs available to do other work, like lift, climb, and manipulate tools. Its head includes cameras and LIDAR similar to NASA’s Valkyrie. It will also be competing in DARPA’s robotics challenge. Unlike Valkyrie, Atlas has no onboard power source it is powered via tether. Valkyrie? Atlas? DARPA’s challenge is beginning to send less like a robotic obstacle course and more like a battle of the gods.
BigDog
BigDog is based on; you guessed it, a dog, or any of a number of four legged animals. He’s about the size of a large dog or small mule. Standing at three feet long, two and a half feet tall and 240 pounds he’s designed to handle rough terrain and carry a load of up to 340 pounds. The idea being that BigDog could help carry loads for humans almost anywhere. He can move at four miles an hour and climb an incline up to 35 degrees. Onboard computer controls correct movement and keep BigDog on his feet. The video below is impressive, you can see BigDog being kicked and moving over ice, he never falls. His sensors include LIDAR, a gyroscope as well as several others that sense orientation and internal mechanics. BigDog is a bots best friend.
SandFlea
SandFlea is one of the smallest robots BD has built to date. At eleven pounds it seems like the least of your concerns in the war against sentient machines. I mean, what can a tiny little bot do, just run away right? But SandFlea has a hidden talent, the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound. With a capability to jump up to 30 feet in the air SandFlea can jump to a rooftop or into your window in pursuit of you and the other rebels. Gyroscopes provide stabilization as it jumps, ensuring that like some sort of terrifying death cat, it always lands on its feet. SandFlea can make about 25 jumps on a single battery so when it doubt, just keep running.
RiSE
Even smaller than SandFlea but just as cool is RiSE a bot that weighs just under five pounds and is designed to climb any surface. Its six legs are equipped with micro-claws that allow it to grip surfaces such as trees and walls. It can climb almost anywhere, it could be above you right now, waiting.
Luckily for all of us, RiSE may be able to get the jump on us but it’s not so great on the ground, once it pounces just brush it off and walk away. Oh ya, and hope it doesn’t call for one of these nearby…
CHEETAH
Most of the robots we’ve seen so far while impressive are not that scary. A brisk jog and some persistence and you should be able to escape any of them that come your way, but not Cheetah. This is the bot we should all fear. It’s the fastest legged robot in the world clocking in at a horrifying 29 miles per hour. Like a real Cheetah, this robots back arches with each step increasing stride and speed. When you see one of these staring down at you from a place up on the hill you better hope you’ve got some formidable defense, there is no running away, it’s coming for you
Let’s all remember to give Google our daily praise so they don’t send an army of Android powered androids after us. All joking aside, it does make one wonder what exactly they have planned.