From the makers of BigDog

Nov 13, 2007 10:44 GMT  ·  By

Boston Dynamics have come up with something I have to admit I find extraordinary and quite funny when being in motion. In other words, they finally lunched a rugged robot that features the highest terrain mobility level of all. Rhex looks like a cute metallic puppy, but it can climb over rock fields, mud, sand, vegetation, railroad tracks, telephone poles, up steep slopes and stairways. And yes, it would have been even better with a head.

Being designed to resist to all weather conditions, Rhex has a sealed body, which kind of makes it operational in wet weather, as well as in muddy and swampy conditions. It can really swim on the surface and dive underwater like a pro, which might mean that it will still be taken in the Army for a little training session, and then be used for other purposes like helping the elders. Of course, we might see these bots engaged in rescue operations.

The robot is so flexible and versatile on just about any type of terrain that the US Government Labs have validated its official testings. Rhex is being easily remotely controlled from an operator unit at distances up to 600 meters, but that doesn't mean the range cannot be optimized.

But the ultimate high-tech favor is given by the front and rear views from the robot's onboard cameras. In addition, Rhex can also uplink navigational data from the onboard compass and GPS, as well as from the payload sensors. Not to mention a downlink allows the operator to fully control the robot's mobility and to operate mission payloads.

What I can foresee is the military use of the cute boot, as an army of Rhex sounds pretty indestructible to me. Don't expect any price tag, yet! It's way too soon!

Here's a sample of the cute boot:

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Rhex Robot
Rhex Robot
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