Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Hey! You! Down Here...
Weren't we going to have Moist and Meaty for supper? Isn't that what you said? When might that be?
Next Generation Jack
The Most Advanced Quadruped Robot on Earth
BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.
BigDog has an on-board computer that controls locomotion, servos the legs and handles a wide variety of sensors. BigDog’s control system manages the dynamics of its behavior to keep it balanced, steer, navigate, and regulate energetics as conditions vary. Sensors for locomotion include joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a laser gyroscope, and a stereo vision system. Other sensors focus on the internal state of BigDog, monitoring the hydraulic pressure, oil temperature, engine temperature, rpm, battery charge and others.
In separate trials, BigDog runs at 4 mph, climbs slopes up to 35 degrees, walks across rubble, and carries a 340 lb load.
BigDog is being developed by Boston Dynamics with the goal of creating robots that have rough-terrain mobility that can take them anywhere on Earth that people and animals can go. The program is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).
Friday, July 25, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The Big Walk
According to the map, it's 1200 feet rise in 1/2 mile. It takes us about 2 hours to do the whole circuit.
End of Stage 1--looking down at the parking lot (the car is a little gray dot just over Jack's shoulder), then up to the destination.
End of Stage 2--same as above
End of Stage 3--I wanted Jack to sit and pose for the picture. He was reluctant, but sat. Sort of. He kept trying to lift one haunch then the other. That's when I noticed he was sitting on an ant swarm. About the time I realized that meant I was standing in the same swarm. That was about the time they started biting me. Needless to say, the shoot was short! 
End of Stage 4--Sandy first (my house), Provo second (Grandma's house)
Stage 5--The top. The first level ground since the car. Then the road down
And finally, the bottom again.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
REAL Men
Well, in spite of the fact that he's had his balls cut off, Jack is a real man. I bought him a new ball that's pink, squishy, perfumed and covered with fru-fru.
He hated it with the first bite.
I put it in his swimming pool.
He patiently fetched it and dropped it in his toilet.
Three times
I got the message. Pink, perfumed fru-fru has it's place and real men know where that is.
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