DARPA's Big Dog project axed

[limor]

after 6 years and $42m the big mule of Boston Dynamics is being put away and will not be used by the Marines to help carry 200lb in uneven terrain for 24 hours. The reason: it is too noisy

Some fascinating videos here (search for LS3)
http://www.military.com/video/forces/ma ... 2208187001

[PaulL]

Well, if they have a need to rid themselves of hardware, I'd be willing to help them in doing so...

The combustion engine did seem a bit loud in the vids they posted, it's a shame that they didn't consider or address this sooner than later. For power density's sake, it made sense, but the drawback of noise, yeah, I could see how that would be a problem. I don't understand why they didn't demonstrate a less energy-intensive method of controlling the legs, I seem to only recall constant bouncing on the legs. Something more like the stride of a giraffe in slow walk could be made to consume less energy, with transition to a mode for faster operation as needed - battery power would have made more sense then, I think. I'm sure they've run all sorts of numbers regarding power, control, and efficiency - or maybe they didn't!!

I have to admit, I don't recall all of the details of this machine - is the engine just for hydraulics, and / or does it run a generator? Are the legs fully hydraulic, or can they lock the legs in a given position with minimal power? I think they could have come up with a solution, given time and money, of course...