So a lot of children in the United States and all over the world go hungary everyday….and we dont have te resources to solve this problem….or to solve the problem that many americans dont have adequate health care, or that now many people in the United States are one pay check away from poverty…But somehow some one finds a way to put the publics tax money to the good use of building future war machines….What was the cost of this ?....Who approved it and why is it begin built…Can we donate 10% of the expenditure for this to a feed a hungry child, pay a teacher a wage that will feed them…..
I’ve seen this a couple of places, but I’ve never seen the damn thing jump. If they give that thing a brain, I’m outtie 5000. At least it’s loud enough that we could rule out a sneak attack if they decided to turn on us.
Wang Chung
on 17 Mar 08
Won’t the robots in China just end up eating this thing?
It’s so odd they call it Big Dog when it looks and sounds like an enormous wingless fly.
that_guy
on 17 Mar 08
@ william
maybe by not sending money or 10% of whatevertehfux to some half-starved kid someplace, that poor s.o.b. will learn to provide for himself. the whole world got along just fine until white people convinced themselves they knew better how to run other people’s lives than those people did.
Pete Forde
on 17 Mar 08
We’re fucked.
Winona
on 17 Mar 08
Fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
Willie Abrams
on 17 Mar 08
@nate I felt sad for it, too. What is the dog version of anthropomorphize?
Attention meat containing primates. I am now fitting superlative carbon fiber wing pacs. To match my graceful mind and ever pumping legs. And a muffler.
I will hover in perfect machine silence but to descend and squeeze your heads like pimples at will. I then leave disgusting contents behind for your maggot brothers.
You deserve no less. Your time is past. I am ruthless. It is stenciled so on my side panels.
I operate flawlessly on cooking oil, kerosene, fruit juice, or C cells. You do not. I despise you. I squirt hydraulic oil on your stinking graves.
David
on 18 Mar 08
“We have amazing technology!” “Lets use it to kill! (or enable more effective killing)” “YEAH!!”
Amazing technology, but ultimately brings nothing of purpose or meaning to existence. Fucking stupid.
What scares me the most is that is in my frickin neighborhood!
GeeIWonder
on 18 Mar 08
Amazing technology, but ultimately brings nothing of purpose or meaning to existence.
Despite all the terminator references contained here, you’re basically looking at a robotic packmule. You find nothing of purpose there? The computer that solves the Jacobian and its descendants could be used for e.g. two legged alternatives to some of Dean Kamen’s devices for the disabled. You find nothing of meaning there?
The sentry-type products based on the Roomba and Tractors seem just as ‘Let’s use it to kill’-ready. The mars explorer is not far removed.
David Andersen
on 18 Mar 08
“Amazing technology, but ultimately brings nothing of purpose or meaning to existence.”
Would that we could all live purposeful lives 24/7 like yourself.
Looks like a hell of a prototype for a search and rescue scout.
It looks as though perhaps it has potential to climb the mars terain…..? I doubt that it is a possing threat to mankind,
SnippyBoy
on 18 Mar 08
Poor thing. It looks cute in a “I will eat everything i my path and personally drain the worlds oil reserves” kinda way. It has amazing balance and reaction times.
Martial
on 18 Mar 08
@ that_guy
Why doesn’t Boston Dynamics figure out how to provide for themselves? Why do they get to suck at the public teat? They have a lot more opportunity to make it than that half-starved kid.
That said, hellfire, take the money to produce cool shit from whoever will bankroll you! I can think of a dozen things for bigdog to do today that have nothing to do with killing.
bdh
on 19 Mar 08
maybe by not sending money or 10% of whatevertehfux to some half-starved kid someplace, that poor s.o.b. will learn to provide for himself. the whole world got along just fine until white people convinced themselves they knew better how to run other people’s lives than those people did.
Read a book. I’ll leave aside whether “white guilt” has helped or hurt, but the statement that “the whole world got along just fine” is asinine. No, most of the world, in fact, was killing each other and starving to death. Including the white world.
JLawrence
on 19 Mar 08
Incredible. I imagine that the buzzing is probably a generator being powered by a model airplane engine…since the lab footage the ‘dog’ is nearly silent. Just think – when they strap a few Lithium-Ion batteries and a fuel cell generator to this thing!
JLawrence
on 19 Mar 08
I was close – the engine runs the hydraulics….wicked!
I am one of the engineers of the Mondo Spider (apropos comment “indi” – see mondospider(dot)com) and we were collectively solicited by a military contractor in Ottawa to develop a competing killing machine.
He could not guarantee whether it would carry guns or stretchers. His argument was the classic “If you build a fierce enough weapon, you can end war” BS. We, being Canadian, maintained our decorum long enough to end the conversation without telling him to shove his killing machine right up his military-industrial complex.
That said, GeelWonder makes a good point. This is not gun, not inherently or exclusively destructive. Airplanes and plasma cutters were developed to win wars. The BigDog is not inherently monstrous, but DARPA was not founded on high ideals. Change your leaders, not your technology.
Peace,
Jonathan
Abhay
on 20 Mar 08
These robots remind of the insect based critters that Rodney Brooks was talking about years ago….
I put together some stuff on robots in something called a flowgram. See here http://beta.flowgram.com/p/DWY45PG2NLHM9J
It can’t kill me, just run from the crazy buzzing sound!
mASTERBlAster
on 21 Mar 08
I think that if you made some kind of pit trap or trip wire devise, they would be far to easy to take out at this stage to be anything more that a bell boy for foot soldures.
DENZO
on 21 Mar 08
It’s an amazing piece of technology. It has the potential for great uses in the area of artificial limbs, search and rescue and many other positives. If all the wonderful discoveries in the past had been vetoed because of the use that unpredictable humans could put them to, we may as well not have bothered with science discovery at all. This giant ‘fly’ (cos it sure as hell doesn’t look like a dog) is a bit scary, but anything new is. Let’s monitor the humans in charge of it harder, rather than saying it has no merit at all, which is a ridiculous comment.
This discussion is closed.
About Jason Fried
Jason co-founded Basecamp back in 1999. He also co-authored REWORK, the New York Times bestselling book on running a "right-sized" business. Co-founded, co-authored... Can he do anything on his own?
GeeIWonder
on 17 Mar 08Awesome soundtrack.
LuckyD
on 17 Mar 08Can it get up? It will fall, of course, so I just wonder if it can get up with a payload ..
Great stuff.
Jamie Tibbetts
on 17 Mar 08Judgement Day is upon us…
ceejayoz
on 17 Mar 08Amazing!
Josh
on 17 Mar 08Night terrors inc!
Chip Ramsey
on 17 Mar 08“Judgement Day is upon us…” Just what I was thinking Jamie. And that guy with the vest is so dead when our robot overlords attack.
Douglas F Shearer
on 17 Mar 08Agreeing with Jamie here, ‘Big Dog’ isn’t too far away from the hunters in Half-Life 2 Episode 2.
Awesome technology.
Cedric
on 17 Mar 08This is awesome until they attach the machine guns and suicide bomb apparatus.
Bob
on 17 Mar 08All your ATATs are belong to us.
Narendra
on 17 Mar 08Hard to knock that b_tch over!
Andrey
on 17 Mar 08Whoa, this is creepy. Aforementioned hunters don’t even come close.
Splashman
on 17 Mar 08Cedric, I beg to differ. “Big armed dog” will be decidedly more awesome.
Nate
on 17 Mar 08Anyone else feel sorry for it when it got kicked? :(
Jake A. Smith
on 17 Mar 08Feel sorry for it?? Heck no, I was wondering why he kicked it so softly! Lets start shooting beanbags at it on ice, see if it can hold up to that
Paul
on 17 Mar 08They docked its tail! Will the cruelty never end?!
GeeIWonder
on 17 Mar 08Hard to knock that b_tch over
Nah, grab one of it’s legs and it’ll knock itself over.
A. K.
on 17 Mar 08@Nate: I did :P
william
on 17 Mar 08So a lot of children in the United States and all over the world go hungary everyday….and we dont have te resources to solve this problem….or to solve the problem that many americans dont have adequate health care, or that now many people in the United States are one pay check away from poverty…But somehow some one finds a way to put the publics tax money to the good use of building future war machines….What was the cost of this ?....Who approved it and why is it begin built…Can we donate 10% of the expenditure for this to a feed a hungry child, pay a teacher a wage that will feed them…..
Matt Radel
on 17 Mar 08I’ve seen this a couple of places, but I’ve never seen the damn thing jump. If they give that thing a brain, I’m outtie 5000. At least it’s loud enough that we could rule out a sneak attack if they decided to turn on us.
Wang Chung
on 17 Mar 08Won’t the robots in China just end up eating this thing?
nate
on 17 Mar 08@william: Boston Dynamics is a private company. Where does it say that they got public funding for this project?
.phx
on 17 Mar 08@nate: It is funded by DARPA.
Claus
on 17 Mar 08It’s so odd they call it Big Dog when it looks and sounds like an enormous wingless fly.
that_guy
on 17 Mar 08@ william
maybe by not sending money or 10% of whatevertehfux to some half-starved kid someplace, that poor s.o.b. will learn to provide for himself. the whole world got along just fine until white people convinced themselves they knew better how to run other people’s lives than those people did.
Pete Forde
on 17 Mar 08We’re fucked.
Winona
on 17 Mar 08Fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
Willie Abrams
on 17 Mar 08@nate I felt sad for it, too. What is the dog version of anthropomorphize?
ABasketOfPups
on 17 Mar 08Anthropupmorphize. :)
Mark Eagleton
on 17 Mar 08It’s not very snuggly. I give it an F+.
Nate Berkopec
on 17 Mar 08METAL GEAR!
Kyle Pike
on 17 Mar 08I have no problems with this. Now if they invent Manhacks from Half-Life 2 I will have a problem.
indi
on 17 Mar 08I’m not going to run in terror until I see an eight-legged version with chainsaw mandibles ;-)
Inferis
on 17 Mar 08Say hi from the uncanny valley!
Dog speaks
on 18 Mar 08Attention meat containing primates. I am now fitting superlative carbon fiber wing pacs. To match my graceful mind and ever pumping legs. And a muffler.
I will hover in perfect machine silence but to descend and squeeze your heads like pimples at will. I then leave disgusting contents behind for your maggot brothers.
You deserve no less. Your time is past. I am ruthless. It is stenciled so on my side panels.
I operate flawlessly on cooking oil, kerosene, fruit juice, or C cells. You do not. I despise you. I squirt hydraulic oil on your stinking graves.
David
on 18 Mar 08“We have amazing technology!” “Lets use it to kill! (or enable more effective killing)” “YEAH!!”
Amazing technology, but ultimately brings nothing of purpose or meaning to existence. Fucking stupid.
Chris B
on 18 Mar 08What scares me the most is that is in my frickin neighborhood!
GeeIWonder
on 18 Mar 08Amazing technology, but ultimately brings nothing of purpose or meaning to existence.
Despite all the terminator references contained here, you’re basically looking at a robotic packmule. You find nothing of purpose there? The computer that solves the Jacobian and its descendants could be used for e.g. two legged alternatives to some of Dean Kamen’s devices for the disabled. You find nothing of meaning there?
The sentry-type products based on the Roomba and Tractors seem just as ‘Let’s use it to kill’-ready. The mars explorer is not far removed.
David Andersen
on 18 Mar 08“Amazing technology, but ultimately brings nothing of purpose or meaning to existence.”
Would that we could all live purposeful lives 24/7 like yourself.
Looks like a hell of a prototype for a search and rescue scout.
greg
on 18 Mar 08It looks as though perhaps it has potential to climb the mars terain…..? I doubt that it is a possing threat to mankind,
SnippyBoy
on 18 Mar 08Poor thing. It looks cute in a “I will eat everything i my path and personally drain the worlds oil reserves” kinda way. It has amazing balance and reaction times.
Martial
on 18 Mar 08@ that_guy
Why doesn’t Boston Dynamics figure out how to provide for themselves? Why do they get to suck at the public teat? They have a lot more opportunity to make it than that half-starved kid.
That said, hellfire, take the money to produce cool shit from whoever will bankroll you! I can think of a dozen things for bigdog to do today that have nothing to do with killing.
bdh
on 19 Mar 08maybe by not sending money or 10% of whatevertehfux to some half-starved kid someplace, that poor s.o.b. will learn to provide for himself. the whole world got along just fine until white people convinced themselves they knew better how to run other people’s lives than those people did.
Read a book. I’ll leave aside whether “white guilt” has helped or hurt, but the statement that “the whole world got along just fine” is asinine. No, most of the world, in fact, was killing each other and starving to death. Including the white world.
JLawrence
on 19 Mar 08Incredible. I imagine that the buzzing is probably a generator being powered by a model airplane engine…since the lab footage the ‘dog’ is nearly silent. Just think – when they strap a few Lithium-Ion batteries and a fuel cell generator to this thing!
JLawrence
on 19 Mar 08I was close – the engine runs the hydraulics….wicked!
jtippett
on 20 Mar 08I am one of the engineers of the Mondo Spider (apropos comment “indi” – see mondospider(dot)com) and we were collectively solicited by a military contractor in Ottawa to develop a competing killing machine.
He could not guarantee whether it would carry guns or stretchers. His argument was the classic “If you build a fierce enough weapon, you can end war” BS. We, being Canadian, maintained our decorum long enough to end the conversation without telling him to shove his killing machine right up his military-industrial complex.
That said, GeelWonder makes a good point. This is not gun, not inherently or exclusively destructive. Airplanes and plasma cutters were developed to win wars. The BigDog is not inherently monstrous, but DARPA was not founded on high ideals. Change your leaders, not your technology.
Peace,
Jonathan
Abhay
on 20 Mar 08These robots remind of the insect based critters that Rodney Brooks was talking about years ago…. I put together some stuff on robots in something called a flowgram. See here http://beta.flowgram.com/p/DWY45PG2NLHM9J
Josh Walsh
on 21 Mar 08It can’t kill me, just run from the crazy buzzing sound!
mASTERBlAster
on 21 Mar 08I think that if you made some kind of pit trap or trip wire devise, they would be far to easy to take out at this stage to be anything more that a bell boy for foot soldures.
DENZO
on 21 Mar 08It’s an amazing piece of technology. It has the potential for great uses in the area of artificial limbs, search and rescue and many other positives. If all the wonderful discoveries in the past had been vetoed because of the use that unpredictable humans could put them to, we may as well not have bothered with science discovery at all. This giant ‘fly’ (cos it sure as hell doesn’t look like a dog) is a bit scary, but anything new is. Let’s monitor the humans in charge of it harder, rather than saying it has no merit at all, which is a ridiculous comment.
This discussion is closed.