Weekend Writing Inspiration: War Robots

By Jason Boog 

Need some writing inspiration this weekend? We’ve collected a series of mind-boggling robot demo videos from Boston Dynamics, a company creating robotic tools for the military.

As you can see by the Sand Flea robot video embedded above, these videos could inspire an entire bookshelf: a militaristic science fiction novel, a robot-driven horror movie, a chilling spy novel, a tense suspense book, a heroic war novel or a nonfiction examination of the ways robots will change the art of war. Watch the videos below and start writing!

Check it out: “Sand Flea is an 11 pound robot that drives like an RC car on flat terrain, but can jump 30 ft into the air to overcome obstacles. That is high enough to jump over a compound wall, onto the roof of a house, up a set of stairs or into a second story window.”

“RHex is a six-legged robot with inherently high mobility. Powerful, independently controlled legs produce specialized gaits that devour rough terrain with minimal operator input. RHex climbs in rock fields, mud, sand, vegetation, railroad tracks, telephone poles and up slopes and stairways.”

“Cheetah is a new robot being developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA’s Maximum Mobility and Manipulation program. Last week Cheetah set a new land speed record for legged robots, galloping 18 mph on the treadmill.”

“The AlphaDog Proto is a lab prototype for the Legged Squad Support System, a robot being developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA and the US Marine Corps. When fully developed the system will carry 400 lbs of payload on 20-mile missions in rough terrain.”

“PETMAN is an anthropomorphic robot developed by Boston Dynamics for testing special clothing used by US military personnel. PETMAN balances itself as it walks, squats and does calisthenics. PETMAN simulates human physiology by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating inside the clothing to provide realistic test conditions.”