Boston Dynamics Developing “Precision Urban Hopper” For Military
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 12 of May , 2009 at 5:27 pm
When Boston Dynamics updated their website a few weeks ago, we noticed a little blurb about some kind of hopping robot that they were working on. There were no more details from Boston Dynamics, but I ran across a press release from Sandia National Labs that provides more information and this picture.
The robot’s primary method of movement is a set of four wheels (although I imagine that it could easily be fitted with tracks). If it encounters an obstacle, the robot deploys a piston that can launch it up to 25 feet in the air, 30 times over. The hop height is controllable even if the robot is launching itself from different types of surfaces, and Boston Dynamics is working on ways to keep the robot stabilized in, uh, flight (I guess?) to limit tumbling when it hits the ground.
Funded by DARPA, the delivery date for the hopper is sometime in 2010… It will be used primarily for surveillance, but DARPA wants the option to mount weapons on it, too. Kinda makes you wonder about the possibilities, doesn’t it?
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