You Can Teach a LittleDog New Tricks [Robots]

This article is over 14 years old and may contain outdated information

Recommended Videos

Last we saw Boston DynamicsLittleDog, it wasn’t living up to the standard set by its older brother BigDog, either in competence, or in sheer bowel tightening terror.

But the little robot has apparently been doing his montages, because he’s navigating those stairs and chest high walls a lot better now.  Below is a Boston Dynamics’ video demonstrating LittleDog’s ability to learn from experience what a good foothold looks like, execute a number of special moves for odd terrains, and utilize their new floating base inverse dynamics controller.

What is that, you ask?

Well, for one thing, according to the video: “An additional benefit of such a controller is that it allows for safe human interaction with possibly dangerous robots.”

Sounds good to us!

(via Gizmodo.)


The Mary Sue is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author
Image of Susana Polo
Susana Polo
Susana Polo thought she'd get her Creative Writing degree from Oberlin, work a crap job, and fake it until she made it into comics. Instead she stumbled into a great job: founding and running this very website (she's Editor at Large now, very fancy). She's spoken at events like Geek Girl Con, New York Comic Con, and Comic Book City Con, wants to get a Batwoman tattoo and write a graphic novel, and one of her canine teeth is in backwards.