

DARPA's AlphaDog robotic pack mule is ready for battle (and awesome) - mrsebastian
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/97883-meet-alphadog-darpas-robotic-any-terrain-mule-poodle

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thwest
Ready for battle? Awesome? Both of these are plainly false. Obviously we have
learned nothing from Metal Gear Solid 4...

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pjama
Does anyone else have an uncontrollable urge to jump on that thing and ride it
around? I suppose it would be dangerous, but this could spawn a new breed of
bull-riding scientist-cowboys.

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mchusma
The total lack of detail here is completely uninteresting. Look up bigdog and
you cam see tons of cool articles and better videos. BigDog was an awesome
prototype but not ready for prime time. I was hoping to see whether they
solved the major noise issues that essentially made earlier prototypes
unusable. In the military, if you are going through rugged terrain, it's very
common that you are doing so for stealth reasons. Earlier versions of BigDog
wouldn't allow for this.

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protomyth
The last line of the article "Not to mention, the sight (and sound) of
AlphaDog is sure to instil more than a little fear in the enemy, too…" makes
me think that even if the good information were available, the reporter
doesn't have the knowledge of the area to ask the right questions.

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Jun8
I'm no tactical attack expert, but don't think that the prototype in the video
is "battle ready". However, the news of al-Awlaki killed by a drone attack
(along with numerous other such successful hits) implies that the armed forces
are definitely moving towards more drones and robots.

I don't know what the chances of AlphaDog against a man with a high powered
rifle, but think of this: A number of these, armed with some sonic weapons
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_weapon>), attacking a compound at night.
Then, the "instill a little fear in the enemy" bit may not sound so stupid.

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ajays
A newer(?) video showing it actually being field-tested:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqMVg5ixhd0>

// please mute the speakers

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theprodigy
Put some armor on this thing and some sniper detection systems it will map out
all the enemies locations who shoot at it or put a soflam on it and it can run
through the mountains marking hidden targets for a drone or AC-130 overhead.

But there are so many technologies that you can integrate together on the
Alpha dog (platform) to create so many military capabilities.

