Robot LS3, better known to us under the name of BigDog, “is retiring”. Despite the hope and dreams that someday will become a BigDog mechanical mule for carrying various equipment of American soldiers on the battlefield, this robot is now outdated. But still too loud at work.
An early version of this four-legged robot was first shown robotic company Boston Dynamics in 2008. In 2010 the project became interested in DARPA (defense advanced Agency research projects U.S.). The continued development has been allocated $ 32 million. In 2012, the robot was renamed to AlphaDog, but among the people still remained the popular name BigDog. The project was watched by many robotics enthusiasts from all over the world. However, on the threshold of the 2016 U.S. army decided to curtail the project.
“The conditions in which could have been used for this robot would be too difficult,” says Kyle Olson, a representative of the American military lab Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL).
“The facts are clear: he’s too loud. Therefore, a potential enemy can easily detect”.
It is difficult to disagree. The noise from the robot is the same as a lawn mower. To hide it not can even very tall grass. Nonetheless, the work was very interesting. The robot is capable of carrying up to 181 kilograms of payload, moving through fairly difficult terrain and has a very high resistance level (especially the robot Spot, which is a miniature version, capable of carrying smaller cargo, but have greater mobility than BigDog).
Most likely, the legacy of BigDog and Spot will continue, and we will be able to see better and more modern examples of robotics. New technologies in this field developing by leaps and bounds, so to doubt the new versions. However, it should be noted that if the development trajectory continues, they will be directed, most likely, already in a civil way. We will remind that the owner of Boston Dynamics is now a “company good” Google.
The further development of military versions of mechanical scouts (which is the Spot) and vectors (which is the BigDog), most likely, will be made by the military or other contractors.
“We like to work with strange and unusual things. We learned a lot through this work and definitely will learn more,” says Olson.
