The BigDog Robot: Rise of the Machines

BigDog is the latest of the US military's combat robots now being tested in Afghanistan. BigDog is a four-legged vehicle designed to carry equipment for American soldiers in rough terrain. It is three-and-a-third feet long and two-and-a-third feet tall.

BigDog, built by Boston Dynamics and has been funded by DARPA, weighs about the same as a mule and can carry thirty hundred and forty pounds of equipment and provisions. BigDog can walk between three and four miles an hour and traverse rugged terrain at an incline of up to 35 degrees. BigDog has sensors that can alert it to surrounding dangers when out in the field.

BigDog looks a little like an Imperial Walker in the film The Empire Strikes Back, though it doesn't contain a crew. Nor does BigDog contain any mounted weapons, at least in prototype form. BigDog and similar machines under development is more like a robotic version of a mule, carrying equipment for a squad level patrol in rugged territory. The Legged Squad Support System, which is also under development by Boston Dynamics, will have even great capability to carry equipment long distances over rugged terrain.

Still, BigDog represents the latest trend in military hardware development, which is to automate as much as possible dangerous military missions. Predator aerial drones already fly over the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, performing recon missions and the occasional strike against terrorist targets with mounted hellfire missiles.

The Bear Robot is a machine designed to medivac wounded soldiers from the battlefield safely. K-Max is a remote control helicopter capable of carrying supplies long distances by air.

Other robots either in use or in the testing stage are machines designed to scout out and, eventually, clear with weapons dangerous, enemy held positions such as buildings.

If this all sounds familiar, it would seem like the logical conclusion to this robot development trend would be an autonomous "Terminator" as depicted in the series of films and a current TV show. Of course in The Terminator series, the robots rebelled under the control of an insane, Hal 9000 type self aware computer called SkyNet and nearly wiped out all of humanity.

Some thought has been given to programming combat ethics into future "Terminator" style robots to make sure they do not run amok. The idea is, with the correct programming, a robot could behave better on the battlefield than a human soldier. A robot does not get scared, tired, hungry, or bored. It just follows its mission, whether it is to clear a building of the enemy or to rescue a human comrade and bring him to safety.

Wars will likely always be with us. But the rise of the machines, at least in war, might well help to lower their lethality. The fewer human beings are placed in harm's way, the fewer widows and orphans future wars will make.

Sources: Robots Take Center Stage in U.S. War in Afghanistan, Matt Sanchez, Fox News, March 23rd, 2009

Legged Squad Support System, DARPA

The Bear Robot, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, August 28th, 2006