The military is apparently shelving the giant Boston Dynamics robots
The Boston Dynamics robots can pull a sleigh with ease. But, according to the military, one thing they can’t do is keep quiet.
According to an article on Military.com, the Marine Corps has shelved the project, putting the robots in storage.
The experiment also exhibited the shortcomings of the prototype, Kyle Olson, a spokesman for the Warfighting Lab, told Military.com.
“As Marines were using it, there was the challenge of seeing the potential possibility because of the limitations of the robot itself,’’ Olson said. “They took it as it was: a loud robot that’s going to give away their position.’’
In addition to the lawnmower-like noise of the mule’s gas-powered engine, there were other challenges without clear solutions, including how to repair the hulking robot if it breaks and how to integrate it into a traditional Marine patrol.
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The founder of Boston Dynamics, Marc Raibert, defending his company’s robots in an email to BetaBoston.
“With regard to noise, LS3 is about 20 times quieter than BigDog, its predecessor,’’ Raibert wrote. “And Spot is 10 to 20 times quieter than LS3, depending on the mode of operation.’’
“Framing the program as ‘shelved’ is not how we think about it.’’
Despite the military moving away of LS3 and Spot, Boston Dynamics shouldn’t be too concerned. When Google bought the company in 2013, it indicated that moving away from a reliance on military funding and focusing on other revenue streams was a part of the plan.
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