Darpa’s Cheetah-Bot Designed to Chase Human Prey

You may or may not have heard of the the Big Dog made by Boston Dynamics..



Rumor has it that this may already be in service in Afghanistan.

Evidently it has impressed the folks at Darpa because they have given Boston Dynamics a contract to make Cheetah-Bot

Darpa’s Cheetah-Bot Designed to Chase Human Prey

Perhaps you thought the four-legged BigDog robot wasn’t eerily lifelike enough. That’ll change soon. BigDog’s makers are working on a new quadruped that moves faster than any human and is agile enough to “chase and evade.”

Boston Dynamics, maker of the Army’s robotic mule BigDog announced today that Darpa has awarded it a contract to build a much faster and more fearsome animal-like robot, Cheetah.

As the name implies, Cheetah is designed to be a four-legged robot with a flexible spine and articulated head (and potentially a tail) that runs faster than the fastest human. In addition to raw speed, Cheetah’s makers promise that it will have the agility to make tight turns so that it can “zigzag to chase and evade”
and be able to stop on a dime.

Big dog is basically a robot mule. What Cheetah seems to be a robot guard and attack dog if I am reading and understanding correctly.

The potential for both is (I think) pretty obvious.

You wonder if the Terminator is on the way? Don't worry - he is...

Meet Atlas, Cheetah’s humanoid pal. Atlas is supposed to look more or less like the T-800 series of Terminators, minus the head. Its designers say it’ll be able to walk like a human over rough terrain, crawling on its hands and knees when necessary and turning itself sideways to slip through any narrow passages it encounters.

bi-ped / quad ped tech has just sky rocketed this past 10 years!
fast reaction time on the robot's part when the user kicks the machine.

the part that took me off guard on the first big dog video was he operated on a 2-stroke motor that was really loud. why not a 4-stroke?
interesting times.

No doubt these would be convertible to a lithium ion battery rechargeable with a fold out solar kit for extended field operations. The drawing of Cheetah looks like the 1980s Ravage from Transformers. These would be pretty handy as mine detectors, earthquake search etc. Any tech can and will be abused by those with the ability to do that. The current price tag may be steep but I can see the tech as a possible exoskeleton solution for paralysed or amputee folk. Very interesting find

I wish something like that would try to chase me down..

I can about imagine where this is going Metal Gear Solid anyone?

Before you know it there will be air drones that can swoop down band drop these little buggers by the dozens. Which for the moment is a good thing but ultimately will be used for more dubious means as time goes on.

But in all seriousness a Quetzalcoatl drone dropping a Raptor drone would be like controlling a biomechanical army of dinosaurs and who is going to be against that?

reply to post by vertedtwylight


I was thinking more like transformers 2

the scene where the wolf bot breaks into that military base.

Has anyone red Fahrenheit 451?
Kinda reminds me of the 'hounds' from the story.

The day they put a mouth, claws, and teeth on that thing, thats the day i will become scared.

It's going to take a lot of work to get what is being described as the "Cheetah bot". The hardware will be mostly prototypical and experimental because there are no known servomechanisms which produce the required feedback in order to make such agile "biological" movements that the proposal discusses... but then again, that is the whole point of the contract: to produce these things. Surely if a bot like this is successful, then the hardware that is a result of the experiment will find uses in numerous applications.

Do not want!

I conjured up all kinds of crazy images in my head when it came to the "Atlas" robot. Especially about the way it turns sideways to get into tight spaces. It's like it'll come for you and do so in a clever fashion. But seriously, as I said above, do not want!

This reminds me of that robot called amee from the movie red planet.

Originally posted by Ear-Responsible
I wish something like that would try to chase me down..

Really?

Try watching the Terminator movies and see if you still think that would be fun.

Sees terminator salvation influences. SMH A humanity and kill weapons. But stars tho

That is a really cool robot.
Especially at the end of the video the way it jumps over that vibrating plate.

Pretty cool really, it sounds like a pissed off weedeater. However not scary enough for me as a well placed shot with an '06 would disable it, heck i think i might be able to outrun it.

Originally posted by smallblockchevy
Pretty cool really, it sounds like a pissed off weedeater. However not scary enough for me as a well placed shot with an '06 would disable it, heck i think i might be able to outrun it.

Except that likely the "real thing" would be armored in some way, and also likely to have more stamina to keep running than you would.

Maybe but armor will be its ultimate demise, the weight. Have you ever seen a dog try to run on 2 or 3 legs, its a pain in the arse. It probably could outrun me over extended periods but machines like these have little or know dexterity. It cant cross water can it, or fly , or even climb up a tree for that matter. It might even be easy to sneak up behind as it it so loud that it wouldnt kno you we coming ( maybe it has a camera in its butt ) . I would sit in amazment smoking a cigarette and try not to laugh to much as it attempts a river crossing or tries to negotiate broken down or parked cars and debris.

reply to post by smallblockchevy


You don't have to worry about having to outrun the Big Dog (the one in the vid). It is basically supposed to be a robotic mule as I said (at least at this time). Need some supplies moved to a forward squad over rough and dangerous ground? Load them on the Big Dog, give it some GPS waypoints and sent it on its way.

The one they are trying to develop would be the one that would chase.

I felt bad about my reply earlier and had to go back and watch the vid again. Honestly i dont feel bad, there is nothing to fear about things like these, do you think they will be dropped on our soil?, i dont think so. It is really neat but it is more than likely another hair brained invention to be put on a shelf somewhere to be used at another time for another purpose. I mean look at the things feet, no surface area at all, it looks fairly heavy and more adapted to arid conditions such as iran iraq and such. I doubt it would be able to walk in mud or heavy soil, and if you take out just one leg it would look like one of your buddys trying to get in the car after an all night drinking binge.