I found this amazing video on the Boston Dynamics website yesterday of a quadruped robot, BigDog which can get over serious obstacles, climb 35 degree slopes, carry 400lbs and even gallop and jump. It is pretty cool even if it is powered by a (rather noisy) gasoline engine driving hydraulics. There are clearly some very sophisticated control algorithms in it’s on-board computer – some of the shots of it trying to stay upright on ice are amazing! I then had a look through the rest of the stuff on the site, how about a tree and wall climber, a sneaky all-terrain ground crawler and a small brother to BigDog imaginatively called LittleDog. I reckon this one seems a bit more house trained and might even make a good pet. Anyway, here’s a shot of BigDog full loaded.