DARPA BigDog Robot Designed in SolidWorks: Scares Paranoid Doomsdayers

Thanks to Ricky Jordan, I’ve been reminded of one of the most frightening man-made beasts and have been glancing over my shoulder at the sound of any loud, mechanical whirring sound all weekend. If you thought humanoid bipedal robots were nightmarishly creepy, wait till you see the video below.

I remember pictures of the DARPA ‘BigDog’ military troop support robot year ago, but this is the first time I’ve seen it in ACTION.

Designed in SolidWorks?
Maybe. The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and Boston Dynamics have projects developed using SolidWorks, but I could find nothing that stated SolidWorks specifically being used in any of the design aspects. If anyone knows for sure, let us know in the comments. What we do know:

BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter/40” long, 0.7 meters/ 28” tall and 75 kg/ 165 pounds weight. The robot is powered by a gasoline engine driving a hydraulic actuation system;^{- Defense Industry Daily}

Now, check out the sensory magnificence of the super responsive hydraulic actuators on this ‘puppy’. This is just Fahrenheit 451 coming too fruition. I’d like to hear anyone tell me they wouldn’t curl up in a ball and cry after falling beneath the legs of a pack of these creatures.

Tagged as: doom, robots, Solidworks