DARPA robots that may someday be our new overlords
One part of the Department of Defense is hard at work researching technology that is alternately amazing, bizarre, and downright scary.
You may not be familiar with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, more commonly known as “DARPA,” but the robotic creations it brings under the wing of the U.S. defense budget are often on the cutting-edge of weird. In honor of Skynet Day, we bring you some of the craziest DARPA robots that may someday be our new overlords.
DARPA was founded in 1958 as a response to the Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite and has since funded “revolutionary, high-payoff research” to keep the Pentagon supplied with the latest in defense-flavored tech. From a fluttering hummingbird-shaped spy drone to more than a few motorized automatons that move in ways uncanny, these projects should help you sleep at night…in theory.
1. BigDog
BigDog, developed by BostonDynamics, is quadruped robot intended to haul, climb, and carry its way over rough terrain. While the buzzing noise that BigDog emits makes this robotic beast all the more unsettling, the real kicker is watching BigDog recover from a fall on slippery ice.
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