sand flea - the next cool thing from Boston Dynamic

[amish]

http://youtu.be/6b4ZZQkcNEo

The Sand Flea Robot can jump atop a 30-foot building with a single bound.

Developed by Boston Dynamic as a tool to obtain information for the U.S. military, the Sand Flea, aptly named because of its incredible jumping ability, will hopefully aid soldiers in war zones by revealing potential threats, CNET reported.

The robot has four wheels and weighs 11 pounds. It can jump up to 30 feet high when not actually in a forward moving motion by using CO2 fired from a piston. And it can jump 25 times in a row before having to be recharged, IEEE Spectrum reported.

The Sand Flea has such precision, that when properly controlled, it can leap into a window of a second story building. It does this by stopping, leaning on its back wheels and then propelling itself upward.

One issue that was given special attention was making sure the camera on the Sand Flea would remain steady enough while in jumping motion to provide useful visuals. For this, a gyro stabilization feature was used to keep the camera steady, as well as the robot upon landing, CNET explained.

shamelessly ripped from, http://www.myfoxny.com/dpps/news/sand-flea-robot-can-jump-30-feet-high-dpgoha-20120329-fc_18892298

very ingenius. makes me think that i'm in the wrong profession. i think that it is a good way to gather intel and determine whether or not any OPFOR can skeet shoot.

 

[BoberFett]

Robotics would be amazingly fun to play with.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Chill shit.

 

[Analog]

This is a job for...

Stupor Duck!

 

[ElFenix]

not nearly as useful as the taco delivering quad copter

 

[FoBoT]

can i order this from newegg.com yet? i would like one, please

 

[Lithium381]

it'll never see the light of day, apple is claiming three patent violations . . .

 

[Leros]

As many people have said, this company will be the death of us.

 

[Rumpltzer]

DARPA sponsors some fun stuff.

 

[amish]

it'll never see the light of day, apple is claiming three patent violations . . .

seriously??? damn. do i complain about apple or the current patent law?

 

[dennilfloss]

It's a jump in technology, to be sure... By leaps and bounds...

 

[SSSnail]

I was gonna post the same thing, but my thread title was gonna be "we're fucked!".

 

[Doppel]

This is in pop sci magazine, this is very awesome.

 

[Crono]

Jumping spider and ninja bots 15 years down the road will be hunting down your neighborhood terrorists alongside even smaller drones.

Amazing how irrelevant walls have become in just 100 years time after thousands of years of defensive fortifications.

Now you don't even need humans on site to wage wars.

 

[Tsavo]

I want a Honda auto that can do this.

 

[HeXen]

arm it with a gun and it'll put Bruce Willis out of obligation to take out terrorists in large buildings.

 

[tommo123]

wouldn't one drone or a satellite pass by be a better idea?

 

[olds]

wouldn't one drone or a satellite pass by be a better idea?

Can you have enough drones and satellites?

 

[Doppel]

wouldn't one drone or a satellite pass by be a better idea?

These are a dime a dozen comparitive to cost.

Can you imagine how many bricks you'd shit if your enemy had a bunch of these, each with a few ounces of C4 driving and hopping around like a frenzied little R/C car and just popping them off whenever they want?

 

[olds]

These are a dime a dozen comparitive to cost.

Can you imagine how many bricks you'd shit if your enemy had a bunch of these, each with a few ounces of C4 driving and hopping around like a frenzied little R/C car and just popping them off whenever they want?

That would be awesome.