Why the heck am I stuck here in rainy London, England, when there are bloggers frolicking in the sunshine in California ;)

Joking aside, theres something very strange about this video. Its like a documentary of a creature on a beach .. but that music makes it even stranger.

I think the engineering of the Big Dog robot is very impressive, but as its some kind of petrol style engine, its incredibly loud, sounding like a tin can full of angry bees, which would limit its appeal for military and civilian use. Its certainly not stealthy and a few hours listening to it would be annoying.

Oh, I don’t know, I think a tin can full of angry bees could be highly effective against the bad guys. :p

But seriously, the problem is that we still don’t have anything that can match the power density and ease of use of a gas engine. For better or worse, gas engines are small, powerful, reliable (mostly), and after they use all their fuel you can just pour more in. The closest we’ve got in a quieter technology might be a methanol fuel cell, but my guess is that BigDog demands way too much power for one of those.