Hasta La Gadget!

As you may already know, just last week, Google officially announced its purchase of scary robot aficionado Boston Dynamics. And though this acquisition may seem to set Google up for getting into the military contracting game, the company says it has no intention of doing so. But can we ever really be sure? But what happens when Google inevitably goes full supervillain with its indestructible fighting robot army? Stephen Colbert, vigilant as ever, has a plan—and it’s absolutely precious.

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China’s Chang’e-3 lander and Jade Rabbit rover launched Dec. 1 and landed on the moon yesterday without incident, and now we’re getting footage of the event. The photos and videos show the moon up close and personal. We’re also seeing shots of both robots on the moon, apparently in full working order. Chang’e-3 soft-landed on […]

Google and robotics do seem to be a rather potent combination, and we have just received word that Google’s robotics division has expanded themselves by picking up Boston Dynamics. Yes sir, Boston Dynamics happens to be that company which churns out those noisy, yet extremely stable walking robots for folks over in the military. There was no mention on how much Google paid to pick up Boston Dynamics though, but this is certainly an interesting development.

Boston Dynamics began to make waves in 2008 with their BigDog creation, and ever since then, they have progressed to deliver smaller as well as more agile gas-powered robots, including the WildCat that is capable of running up to speeds of 15mph with the clever implementation of bounding and galloping gaits. As a company, it has received its fair share of funding from DARPA to date, and after the acquisition, Google will continue to honor the current military contracts, but has no plans to become a military contractor on its own according to the Times. Just what do you think Google’s direction will be with Boston Dynamics? Only time will be able to tell, but is the day of a robot apocalypse drawing closer and closer even as we speak?

Google Acquires Boston Dynamics original content from Ubergizmo.

Google has acquired robotics engineering firm Boston Dynamics, known for its animal-like BigDog, WildCat, Cheetah, and Atlas robots, as former Android chief turned Google-robot lead Andy Rubin increases the search giant’s “moonshot” efforts into the field. The deal was confirmed late Friday, the NYTimes reports, and will see Boston Dynamics continue its existing military contracts; […]

The DARPA Robotics Challenge is all about encouraging the development of humanoid robots that can complete the same tasks we humans do, but in more dangerous conditions – a robot that can get the job done when we don’t want to. When those participating in the challenge were announced last year, one entry really stood out. And today, NASA’s DRC robot actually exists. It’s called Valkyrie 1.

This robot looks a bit like Iron Man, but in white. It has a 1.9-meter-tall frame that weighs in at 125kg. That’s almost 6-feet-tall. Valkyrie 1 has 44 degrees of freedom, so it is very flexible. The arms alone have seven degrees of freedom and the legs six. Valkyrie 1 and the other entrants will have to perform tasks like climbing a ladder, driving a utility vehicle, and using tools. Therefore the design must be up to par.

Valkyrie 1 has cameras in its head, wrists, torso, and legs. This way the operator can get a view from almost any angle when controlling the robot. Its limbs are interchangeable, and most of the components can be removed in minutes, so this robot is easy to repair as well. You can see Valkyrie 1 in action in the clip below:

[via Geek]