At Boston Dynamics, the creature BigDog made headlines a couple years ago, as it moves like a real quadruped...and even catches its balance when pushed from the side. You can watch the chilling video here of it navigating various terrains. To me it moves less like a dog and more like a horse.
Now Boston Dynamics has released to the public video of "PetMan," their newest robot abomination being built for the government. I say abomination jokingly, because the control system used to make PetMan walk nothing short of astonishing. Most people take bipedal walking for granted. Anyone who has ever tried to make a humanoid robot knows that bipedal walking is an elegant, low-energy, extremely-difficult-to-mimic process involving two "upside down pendulums." Am I the only one that thinks PetMan looks like a miniature AT-ST??
The reason I am drawing attention to PetMan is because I feel we need to invest more than ever in powered exoskeleton research. It won't be long now before super-agile, humanoid robots start an inter-species war with us for global domination. Our feeble human bodies will be no match for the robotic soldiers, and without powered armor we will be like cattle at the slaughter. Our only hope is to build powered exoskeletons giving us superhuman strength and agility, coupled with augmented reality set ups that give us a (powered) leg up during battle. And that I say only half-jokingly.
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