headquarters waltham massachusetts united states owner alphabet inc. parent x website www.bostondynamics.com boston dynamics is an engineering and robotics design company that is best known for the development of bigdog a quadruped robot designed for the u.s. military with funding from defense advanced research projects agency darpa 1 2 and di guy software for realistic human simulation . early in the company s history it worked with the american systems corporation under a contract from the naval air warfare center training systems division nawctsd to replace naval training videos for aircraft launch operations with interactive 3d computer simulations featuring di guy characters . 3 marc raibert is the company s president and project manager . he spun the company off from the massachusetts institute of technology in 1992 . 4 on 13 december 2013 the company was acquired by google x for 500 million 5 where it is managed by andy rubin . 6 immediately before the acquisition boston dynamics transferred their di guy software product line to vt m k a simulation software vendor based in cambridge massachusetts . 7 on 17 march 2016 bloomberg news revealed that alphabet inc was planning to sell the company with toyota and amazon being interested parties . 8 contents 1 products 1.1 bigdog 1.2 cheetah 1.3 littledog 1.4 rise 1.5 sandflea 1.6 petman 1.7 ls3 1.8 atlas 1.9 rhex 1.10 spot mini 2 references 3 external links products edit bigdog atlas bigdog edit main article bigdog bigdog was a quadrupedal robot created in 2005 by boston dynamics in conjunction with foster miller the jet propulsion laboratory and the harvard university concord field station . 9 it was funded by the darpa in the hopes that it will be able to serve as a robotic pack mule to accompany soldiers in terrain too rough for vehicles but the project was shelved after bigdog was deemed too loud to be used in combat . 10 11 instead of wheels bigdog used four legs for movement allowing it to move across surfaces that would defeat wheels . called the world s most ambitious legged robot it was designed to carry 340 pounds 150 kg alongside a soldier at 4 miles per hour 6.4 km h ; 1.8 m s traversing rough terrain at inclines up to 35 degrees . 12 legged squad support systems ls3 is similar to the bigdog . 13 cheetah edit the cheetah is a four footed robot that gallops at 28 miles per hour 45 km h ; 13 m s which as of august 2012 is a land speed record for legged robots . the previous record was 13.1 miles per hour 21.1 km h ; 5.9 m s set in 1989 at mit . this robot has an articulated back that flexes back and forth on each step thereby increasing its stride and running speed much like the animal does . the original cheetah robot runs on a high speed treadmill in the laboratory where it is powered by an off board hydraulic pump and uses a boom like device to keep it running in the center of the treadmill . a free running cheetah that will operate more naturally in the field named the wildcat was unveiled to the public on october 3 2013 . 14 a similar but independently developed robot also known as cheetah is made by mit s biomimetic robotics lab 15 which by 2014 could jump over obstacles while running . 16 17 littledog edit littledog is a small quadruped robot developed for darpa by boston dynamics for research . unlike bigdog which is run by boston dynamics littledog is intended as a testbed for other institutions . boston dynamics maintains the robots for darpa as a standard platform . 18 19 littledog has four legs each powered by three electric motors . the legs have a large range of motion . the robot is strong enough for climbing and dynamic locomotion gaits . the onboard pc level computer does sensing actuator control and communications . littledog s sensors measure joint angles motor currents body orientation and foot ground contact . control programs access the robot through the boston dynamics robot api . onboard lithium polymer batteries allow for 30 minutes of continuous operation without recharging . wireless communications and data logging support remote operation and data analysis . littledog development is funded by the darpa information processing technology office . 20 rise edit rise is a robot that climbs vertical terrain such as walls trees and fences using feet with micro claws to climb on textured surfaces . it changes posture to conform to the curvature of the climbing surface and its tail helps it balance on steep ascents . rise is 0.25 m long weighs 2 kg and travels 0.3 m s. 21 each of rise s six legs is powered by a pair of electric motors . an onboard computer controls leg motion manages communications and services a variety of sensors including joint position sensors leg strain sensors and foot contact sensors . boston dynamics developed rise in conjunction with researchers at university of pennsylvania carnegie mellon uc berkeley stanford and lewis and clark college . it was funded by darpa . sandflea edit sandflea is a small robot capable of jumping 30 feet 8 m straight up . this wheeled robot weighs 11 pounds 4.9 kg and drives like a remote controlled car on flat surfaces . 22 the robot uses gyro stabilization to stay level during flight to provide a clear view from the onboard camera and to ensure a smooth landing . sand flea can jump about 25 times on one charge . boston dynamics is developing sand flea with funding from the us army s rapid equipping force ref . earlier versions of sand flea were developed by sandia national laboratory with funding from darpa and jieddo . 23 petman edit petman protection ensemble test mannequin 24 is a bipedal device constructed for testing chemical protection suits . it is the first anthropomorphic robot that moves dynamically like a real person . much of its technology is derived from bigdog . 25 unlike previous suit testers that had a limited repertoire of motion and had to be supported mechanically petman balances itself and moves freely ; walking bending and doing a variety of suit stressing calisthenics during exposure to chemical warfare agents . petman also simulates human physiology within the protective suit by controlling temperature humidity and sweating all to provide realistic test conditions . the petman system was delivered to the user s test facility where it is going through validation experiments . boston dynamics partners for the program are mriglobal measurement technologies northwest smith carter cuh2a scc srd and hhi corporation . 26 ls3 edit main article legged squad support system legged squad support system ls3 also known as alphadog is a militarized version of bigdog . it is ruggedized for military use with the ability to operate in hot cold wet and dirty environments . ls3 is a rough terrain robot designed to go anywhere marines and soldiers go on foot helping carry their load . each ls3 carries up to 400 lbs of gear and enough fuel for a 20 mile mission lasting 24 hours . ls3 automatically follows its leader using computer vision so it does not need a dedicated driver . it also travels to designated locations using terrain sensing and gps . ls3 began a 2 year field testing phase in 2012 . ls3 is funded by darpa and the us marine corps . boston dynamics has assembled an extraordinary team to develop the ls3 including engineers and scientists from boston dynamics carnegie mellon the jet propulsion laboratory bell helicopter aai corporation and woodward hrt . 27 atlas edit main article atlas robot the agile anthropomorphic robot atlas is a 6 foot 1.8 m bipedal humanoid robot based on boston dynamics earlier petman humanoid robot and designed for a variety of search and rescue tasks . 28 atlas is a high mobility humanoid robot designed to negotiate outdoor rough terrain . atlas can walk bipedally leaving the upper limbs free to lift carry and manipulate the environment . in extremely challenging terrain atlas is strong and coordinated enough to climb using hands and feet to pick its way through congested spaces . articulated sensate hands will enable atlas to use tools designed for human use . atlas includes 28 hydraulically actuated degrees of freedom two hands arms legs feet and a torso . an articulated sensor head includes stereo cameras and a laser range finder . atlas is powered from an off board electric power supply via a flexible tether . several copies of the atlas robot are being provided as government furnished equipment for the darpa robotics challenge program with delivery scheduled in the summer of 2013 . 29 needs update in february 2016 boston dynamics published a youtube video 30 entitled atlas the next generation showing a new humanoid robot about 5 9 tall about a head shorter than the original drc atlas . in the video the robot is shown performing a number of tasks that would have been difficult or impossible for the previous generation of humanoid robots 31 including walking at reasonable speed over uneven and treacherous snow covered terrain and getting up quickly when knocked over . rhex edit rhex is a six legged robot with inherently high mobility . powerful independently controlled legs produce specialized gaits that devour rough terrain with minimal operator input . rhex climbs in rock fields mud sand vegetation railroad tracks telephone poles and up slopes and stairways . rhex has a sealed body making it fully operational in wet weather muddy and swampy conditions . rhex s remarkable terrain capabilities have been validated in government run independent testing . rhex is controlled remotely from an operator control unit at distances up to 700 meters . visible ir cameras and illuminators provide front and rear views from the robot . 32 spot mini edit boston dynamics released the spot mini which only weighs 25 kg 55 pounds and is lighter than their other products . 33 references edit david hambling robotic pack mule displays stunning reflexes new scientist 3 march 2006 . innovation the government was crucial after all april 24 2014 issue new york review of books sharon foster updating technology without upping the price boston dynamics completes first phase of catapult trainer upgrade subscription required national defense november 1 2001 . about boston dynamics 2005 retrieved on 4 july 2007 . http uk.businessinsider.com report google trying to sell boston dynamics 2016 3 r us & ir t google adds to its menagerie of robots new york times december 14 2013 . di guy now part of vt m k military simulation and training magazine december 11 2013 . http www.bloomberg.com news articles 2016 03 17 google is said to put boston dynamics robotics unit up for sale boston dynamics . retrieved 2007 06 30 . degeler andrii . marines ls3 robotic mule is too loud for real world combat . ars technica . retrieved 2 january 2016 . markoff john 9 april 2012 . pentagon contest to develop robots to work in disaster areas . the new york times . bigdog the most advanced rough terrain robot on earth . boston dynamics . retrieved 2011 02 22 . dedicated to the science and art of how things move . boston dynamics . retrieved 2013 12 17 . creepy cat robot can run 16mph . breitbart . retrieved october 6 2013 . http spectrum.ieee.org automaton robotics robotics hardware mit cheetah robot running https www.youtube.com watch v vumlwkgiyf8 http www.businessinsider.com darpa funded cheetah robot can now jump over obstacles 2015 6 greenemeier larry darpa pushes machine learning with legged littledog robot scientific american april 15 2008 littledog the legged learning robot . accessed on october 20 2008 . littledog the legged locomotion learning robot . boston dynamics . rise