petman

If the apparel oft proclaims the man, as Polonius said in "Hamlet," then the camo suit proclaims the robot.

Boston Dynamics is showing off new duds for its Petman humanoid robot platform, and it looks rather badass.

Peman is a walking, squatting, flexing hazmat suit testing machine. It's designed to stand up to chemical warfare agents.

With nothing on, it looks like The Terminator. But when it's wearing this camouflage chemical suit and gas mask, you could mistake it for a real soldier. … Read more

Science fact often follows science fiction. Hence, the U.S. Army is funding development of a Terminator-style robot soldier.

Boston Dynamics has released new video of its Petman robot and its resemblance to the T-800 is uncanny.

The vid below shows the anthropomorphic bot (aka the Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin) walking on a treadmill, doing squats, and pumping out push-ups without breaking a sweat. All it needs is a metal skull head and a phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range.

The maker of the notorious BigDog and AlphaDog quadruped bots says Petman is just "an anthropomorphic robot for testing chemical protection clothing used by the U.S. Army."

The droid, scheduled for delivery next year, is supposed to go through various maneuvers wearing a suit and taking heavy doses of chemical warfare agents. Roughly 6 feet tall, it will also mimic human physiology, generating heat and sweating for added realism. … Read more

I'm sure you are all well-acquainted with the crazy quadrupled BigDog robot, but if it had a master to walk with, it would probably look something like the Petman.

Actually, the similarity is not surprising considering that the walking robot was designed by Boston Dynamics, the same company behind BigDog. Petman has been in development for some time now, but this is the first chance we have had to view his human-like stride.

The military plans to use it to test out clothing for soldiers that needs to be completely protective and not strain or open up under any … Read more