I’ve been reminded lately of one of the most frightening man-made beasts, glancing over my shoulder and shuddering at the sound of any loud, mechanical whirring. 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 years 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’. 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.

YouTube video

Author

Josh is founder and editor at SolidSmack.com, founder at Aimsift Inc., and co-founder of EvD Media. He is involved in engineering, design, visualization, the technology making it happen, and the content developed around it. He is a SolidWorks Certified Professional and excels at falling awkwardly.