(Waltham, MA) – A new robot may soon be taking a lot of weight off of our soldiers’ backs.  The four-legged BigDog robot has been in development for a few years, but thanks to some DARPA money it’s now much nimbler and scary looking.  Made by Boston Dynamics, the bot can gallop along at 3.3 miles-per-hour and carry up to 340 pounds of gear.

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The meter-long BigDog can also traverse a 35-degree slope.  In the above video provided by Boston Dynamics, you can see the bot walk across snow, concrete blocks and even small pebbles.  The inventors also tortured the poor silicon and steel beast by making him, err it, slip and slide over ice.  Amazingly, actuators and laser gyroscope keep the BigDog upright despite a few close calls with hitting the ground.

The scientists also unsuccessfully tried to knock the BigDog over by kicking the poor thing.  Fortunately the robot stood upright … and is probably now plotting its revenge.