Google Robo dogs are Legged Squad Support System (LS3). The robo dog was designed to help US marines but was rejected by them because of the high noise made by the Robo dogs. Robo dogs is also known as ‘the big dog’. The design was made in partnership with a Google owned robotic company, Boston Dynamics.
Boston Dynamics is a robotics design and engineering based company which has gained fame for this dynamic development. The company worked in conjunction with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Foster-Miller and the Harvard University Concord Field Station to develop BigDog. It is a quadruped robot which was designed for the U.S. military in the year 2005. It was funded by DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) and DI-Guy. It’s a software developed for realistic human simulation.
The development of BigDog was with the hope that it will serve as a robotic pack mule. It will accompany soldiers in terrains that are too rough for vehicles. BigDog has four legs like a normal dog instead of wheels which allows them to move on rough surfaces that defeats wheels. BigDog is also known as the world’s most ambitious legged robot. The design is such that it can carry 340 pounds (150 kg)and walk along with a soldier at a speed of 4 miles per hour (6.4 km/h). It can also walk on terrains having inclination of about 35 degrees. Since they carry heavy loads and keep following the soldier they are also known as robotic mules.
As perKyle Olson, a spokesperson of US marineCorps Warfighting Lab, Google’s robo-dogs are too loud to be used in a combat and will reveal the troop’s position to the enemies. The noise levels were so high that it cannot be use in real world operations. Wonder what use we could put them to now? Let us know your suggestions and we hope someone from the company notices.
They may not be cost effective but they could probably be programmed to replace bicycle messengers?