Boston Dynamics has made us cringe more than once in the past with their BigDog and LS3 robotic abominations in the past. This time, they’ve gone too far and we’re all officially creeped out. If you’ve seen any of the Terminator movies, you should be afraid. This is it without Arnold’s skin covering it. The funny part is that PETMAN is being billed as “an anthropomorphic robot designed for testing chemical protection clothing.” Before you start thinking that it sounds reasonable, keep in mind that this is a project that is funded by a “Robotics Challenge” put out by DARPA. For those not familiar with…

If there’s one thing that can be said about Boston Dynamics, it’s that they never cease to amaze us with the capabilities of their robotic creations. “BigDog” has been the topic of past posts here and this one may be the most awesome capability yet. Maintaining balance is one of the biggest challenges facing legged-robot designers. It seems easy for us and other animals to walk, climb, and jump because the portion of our mind that controls this is mostly subconscious. We don’t have to think, “left foot forward, balance on it, lift right leg, move it forward…” It just happens. In robotics, each movement…

I sense a theme coming on: people create robots, robots destroy robots, and robots destroy humans? Well I’m a believer after what I just watched. In the above video, there is a four-legged robot called BigDog that is capable of walking in a freakish but effective fashion, which is entertaining to say the least. However, it’s all about to get a bit more awesome. There is a new bot on the block, and it has one goal in mind — speed! It is named Atlas. It looks more like a cheetah than a four-legged freak of nature, like the BigDog mentioned above. And it is going to be fast, according to Boston Dynamics, the…