So, I think it’s fair to say that robots are pretty freakin’ awesome. I’ve written about them quite a bit in previous posts, from the bizarre and seemingly useless, to useful “pack animal” type robots that will one day be used in day to day military operations. Yes, it seems that finally… finally the technology is becoming sophisticated enough to create actual useful, versatile robots… the kind of robots that could be our friends, and play games like ring toss with us. You know, like that.
The trouble (or benefit, depending on who you ask) is that most of these recent breakthroughs in robot mobility and awareness are coming out of DARPA, the agency that develops cutting edge weapons and technologies for the military. This latest “Pet-Proto” from DARPA is a great example. Mr. Proto can move around an obstacle course quite well for a bi-pedal robot, and perhaps even more importantly, it looks creepy as all hell. Is this the beginning of Skynet?
DARPA’s Pet-Proto Navigates an Obstacle Course
Pet-Pro is still a little slow, but even so, I find it pretty impressive how it’s able to navigate the obstacle course with very little hesitation. Not only that, but it also doesn’t stumble once during the footage, and while I’m sure they only recorded the choice bits, Pet-Proto still shows a lot of promise for future bi-pedal robots. The only questions now is what we’ll actually do with them. My guess is soldiers and sex dolls, at the very least.
If you’re interested in reading about the latest and greatest in robot advances, then you’ve found the right place. I’ll be covering all the neat stuff to come out of DARPA and Boston Dynamics, and anything else cool and robot related that I can get my grubby little hands on. I also suggest checking out the official DARPA website too, and there’s plenty of interesting footage and information posted up there.
