Big Dog, the Robot

**American Patriot** · July 23rd, 2008, 13:49

Big Dog, the Robot
Company Home Page ^ | July 23, 2008 | Boston Dynamics

The Most Advanced Quadruped Robot on Earth

BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.

(Excerpt) Read more at bostondynamics.com ...

**Brykovian** · July 24th, 2008, 17:27

Videos of that thing in action are really cool to watch. I love it when one of the testers gives the thing a kick-push in the side and it stumbles and corrects for the unexpected impact.

-Bryk

**American Patriot** · July 24th, 2008, 17:56

You know, I know it is a bot, I know it's not got "feelings", but I actually felt BAD for the damned thing when he did that.

That's seriously sad on my part.

**Brykovian** · July 24th, 2008, 18:02

I know exactly what you mean -- Kinda eery, no?

-Bryk

**American Patriot** · July 24th, 2008, 20:42

Yeah. Very.

In reality someone asked me once about "Robot Rights".

I'm actually... well, not for "robot rights". It's a MACHINE.

However, IF artificial intelligences get to the point of actually "thinking like a human being" then I don't care what form the intelligence takes, whether it's a simple box or a fantastic, moving mechanism that can move, think and "be" on it's own.

If the thing doesn't require a human being to maintain it, and it can "feed" (charge) itself, and is capable of comprehension, thinking and reasoning then it gets added to my list of "intelligent beings" (and believe me that's a small list!) lol