Amazing, yet slightly creepy, robot.

Boston Dynamics Big Dog

YouTube

Looks like a product of one of the "The Fly" movies.

Pretty cool though.

For a while there I kept looking at those legs wondering if they were in fact human legs and this was just some kind of cheep trick.

The coordination of that robot is absolutely amazing!
Even when it was kicked sideways or went over very irregular obstacles, it not only stayed upright but it moved just like a human would! ( if not much better! )

Looks like a drunk horse! Impressive though.

Is the military funding that?

Originally posted by Seitse
Is the military funding that?

Tie a gun to it and they will.

Originally posted by Seitse
Is the military funding that?

Yes, it is DARPA funded. I googled them and their website explains what it is for and is worth a look: http://www.bostondynamics.com they have 3 other robotics projects (with promotional videos), little dog, an alternative rough terrain robot and a climbing robot that is kind of insectile.

There is also a wikipedia entry which doesn´t really say anything more about Big Dog, but the eventual intent is something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legged_Squad_Support_System

They say Little Dog is a learning robot - I wonder if that means that it´s neural net based.

Uhm... crap... same old, same old, it seems.

The U.S., directly or through the IMF, WB, etc. always tries to crush the "populist left-wingers" of other countries (particularly Latin American), and cry foul or a "terrorist attack" on the level playing field (lol), if they dare to put a single coin in subsidies... yet the U.S. puts billions of taxpayers' money in subsidies for R&D and agriculture, among others.

Moreover, the taxpayers' money goes directly into war, either they want it or not. And, together with the above, the taxpayers' are also putting lots of cash into the corporations, who also benefit from these awesome fruits of R&D... either the taxpayers want it or not.

Bleh... I don't know what to think anymore everytime I see these technological advances.

There is nothing wrong with spending tax dollars on R&D, although arguably there are better ways to spend it than on robot research.

I guess robot research is o.k. in the benefit of human kind. What is not o.k. is to subsidize robot research to benefit the war machine or selected multinational corporations.

I recommend Janet Dine's "Corporations, International Law & Human Rights".

Well, maybe it's better to subsidize universities who conduct robot research.

Well, they are subsidizing a university. What I don't find funny is what happens with the researchers' discoveries thereafter.

But hey, my questions are based solely on my personal opinion, so there's nothing right or wrong about it... I just don't like scientific advances going to the hands of armies or just a few corporations, because they sell it to the same people who funded it.

It's hard to predict which discoveries can be used for military operations, I'm sure Marie Curie didn't think she was contributing to the development of a brutal weapon.

Well, it's not about predicting, hun. If the military is paying for it, there are two things for sure: (a) it's taxpayers' money, and (b) they have a primary right over the discoveries obtained.

Check the video again and see, at the end of it, who's funding the project.

Originally posted by Seitse
Well, it's not about predicting, hun. If the military is paying for it, there are two things for sure: (a) it's taxpayers' money, and (b) they have a primary right over the discoveries obtained.

Check the video again and see, at the end of it, who's funding the project.

Well, that's just the government by proxy. I partially agree, it's better to fund research more directly aimed towards fundamental research or improving people's lives, but still there could be some spinoff from this research that does have a positive impact on people's lives, analogous to nuclear power.