Click this link, people. It’s the Amazon page for David Hambling’s Weapons Grade: How Modern Warfare Gave Birth to Our High-Tech World. David, a military tech writer for New Scientist and others, has his first story for us, below. And it’s really good. Let’s encourage him to write more, by sending him up the Amazon sales charts.
Gadgets are getting smaller. Materials are getting lighter. But the modern foot soldier is lugging a bigger load than ever. The U.S. Army is hoping to take some of this weight off with a new-fangeled beast of burden. The Future Force Warrior program’s Robotic Mule will be able to go wherever the infantry go, carrying supplies and ammunition and giving them somewhere to plug in their rechargers.
One approach to the Mule is to build a four-legged robot very much like the biological version — or some sort of wheeled equivalent. But there is another way, and this is where Danny Hillis of Applied Minds comes in. Hillis is best known for developing the parallel processing that underlies most modern supercomputers, but has been active in many different fields. His idea is to develop something that is part wheel, part leg, combining the strengths of both. It’s not a matter of reinventing the wheel so much as repackaging it.
“Nature doesn’t generally use wheels,” Hillis explains, “because although they are good for smooth surfaces, there are few smooth surfaces in nature. In fact we spent a great deal of effort building flat surfaces for wheels to roll on. It would be better to have a wheel which could go on any surface.“
Robot legs are complex and inefficient — typically they rely on dynamic stability, which means that a legged robot falls over when power turned off. Hillis built a large robot dinosaur for the Disney organisation, and says that the amazing thing is that it walks at all.
The new alternative would be as simple and cheap as a wheel but with the all-terrain capability of legs. Hillis is very cagey about the configuration — evidently there have been several different versions and the picture shows one prototype. The ultimate design may be completely different.
Shi-Ping Hsu, Director at Northrop Grumman’s Futures Laboratory, is collaborating on the project. He points out that a wheel/leg hybrid should be able to give a much lower centre of gravity than the usual large wheels used for rough terrain, making it much more suitable for military applications.
If successful, the wheel/leg hybrid could have all sorts of uses for both powered and unpowered vehicles. The robotic mule and its relations will be the first beneficiaries, but it could give to a new generation of all-terrain vehicles. Eventually everything from electric wheelchairs to baby buggies may be able to negotiate all sorts of obstacles that are impossible today with the aid of the new hybrid.
Hillis would not be drawn on when the wheel/leg project would be completed, but hinted that the design would be sufficiently simple that it could very readily be adapted and could spread quickly.
Can you really improve on a design that’s been around for thousands of years? “I’m not saying that we do have the solution,” says Hillis, “but we might have a solution.“
– David Hambling
(Images courtesy of Applied Minds)
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Looks like a robotic leg, but simplier. Start out with a simple lever that swings on a pendulum, give it parallel support, such as the four ‘legs’ shown above and you have a very simple four-legged creature. Lessons learned from this design can lead to improvements like additional lift in the form of an articulating ankle, or knee and thigh, or perhaps the primary leg support itself lengthens, although that has its own problems. Another problem with the above design is rotation. The ankle or hip would be needed to allow the machine to pivot.
In the end we end up with four legs, each containing a hip, thigh, knee, shin, ankle, and foot with increasing complexity as the design matures. Now, I’m not a naysayer, I just don’t think this sort of design is an end, but an early evolutionary step. Nature doesn’t use wheels or cresents in propulsion probably for a good reason: flexibility.
That said, it is good to see that some smart people are taking a different tact and designing something simple that work now with the intention to add complexity later rather than taking enormously complicated and underpowered, fully-articulated limbs into the field.
Hmmm, what about the “Twheel” and similar concepts?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/03/automobiles/03cars.html?ex=1262494800&en=f8f420df5ca1261d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=176
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=309
Nature doesn’t use wheels at all, and not just because they are not suited to all surfaces. How would a wheel spinning on any kind of axle get nutrients? What kind of connector would it take to link a spinning wheel with its “life’s blood”? Imagine, then, a dog with wheels instead of feet. What would keep the wheels alive? A sure case of avascular necrosis before the poor dog even got its wheels on the ground. Just a thought!
The Creative Minds project was originally called “Leg pairs as virtual wheels”, and they’re clearly trying to combine a walking, rolling gait.
Biologists point out some instances of wheels in nature, but they are understandably rare, and its the whole creature rolling rather than having wheels underneath.
Indeed nature DOES use wheels. And your assumptions are correct, as evolution would never produce a wheel. Not only are wheels found in biological organism, but rotary motors with forward and reverse gears. Clearly something that did not evolve. There is a Designer. He can be known.
http://www.idthink.net/biot/wheel/
Worthless Idea.
If he wants to compare his robot with nature he should at least use the most affective mechanism that life on Earth uses. THERE ARE NO ANIMALS THAT USE FOUR LEGGED WHEEL LEG COMBINATIONS. THIS GUY NOT ONLY MISREPRESENTS HIS IDEA, THE IDEA SUCKS.
His robot is too cheap to use bipedals or support itself on four legs and be able to move so this parrallel processing nobody “hacks it” and uses his little pvc pipe science project and calls it an innovation.
The guy is an idiot and his robot sucks.
He probably stole the idea from a fifth grader anyways.
OMG, Do you have any idea who you are calling an idiot? The guy who designed the prototype we see above is a certified genius. I’ve seen and read about his inventions for years. He is even in the process of developing a clock that will run for 10,000 years! He’s built a 13 foot tall walking robot that is the Largest walking robot built to date I believe. All I’m saying is that is a PROTOTYPE. The end game will probably be much more advanced and robust. You are the idiot sir. Not the man who is actually building and inventing a robot (which you’ve only seen a prototype of).
lol it is not hard to build a 13 foot tall walking robot. I can build a 14 foot tall robot, am I a genius?
A clock that will run for 10,000 years? Big deal its called solar power.
Its a little robot that is slow, cheap, and dumb. All it does is swing its legs around so it can climb over a 1 foot obstacle. BIG DEAL.
An impressive robot is one that can beat a human in anything and everything.. that includes running, jumping, gymnastics, lifting, and general mobility.
ELSE THIS IS JUST A CHEAP SCIENCE PROJECT I CAN MAKE IN MY GARAGE.
I wouldnt say this guy has proven he is all that qualified or innovative in making robots. He probably has 100000X more money then I do, with 100000X less innovation and ideas then I could come up.
Spare me, half the junk that gets posted on this website is just that–JUNK. And 8/10 times it is also a waste of money on top of being a piece of useless junk.
What is so hard about it? We know tons about anatomy. Our computers are fast enough to make it work. Sure maybe the artificial intelligence might not be perfect but given the effort the robot would walk and run but just might be dumb.
I HIGHLY DOUBT making a “Mule” robot in my backyard would make me rich. Its called an ATV and they are already readily available on the market. And well I dont htink it would be all that worthwhile for me to stick a camera and lidar on the front of it and make it autonomous.
Now making a bipedal robot combat soldier would be worthwhile but I dont have the money. And the people who do have the money dont have the right vision.
And yes a 14′ robot that can walk is not hard to do. It is pretty simple, might cost a few thousand dollars in junkyard scrap and motors but it would be easy to do.
And making a humanlike robot combat soldiers is NOT THAT hard. Making the actual robot would be easy, programming it and giving it sufficient life and logic to move its limbs and balance itself would be the hardest part.
I dont care enough about this country to want to spend my own money doing it either. They spit on the 2nd Amendment, they spit on our privacy rights, and they allow foreign countries to buy large parts of the country. I could care less about the “United States of America”.
Now I know why my State of Rhode Island didnt attend the constitutional convention and was one of the last to ratify the constitution out of the original 13 states. A centralized federal government with too much power obviously does not work and we are paying the price. Now we have half the rights we did in the 1800’s and early early 1900’s. The supreme court and congress are traitors. And the people in this country are communist welfare supporting underachieving idiots.
Screw them and screw you. Go about your pitiful little life and stop posting on the internet like you know what your talking about.
This guy for real?
making combathumanlike robot combat soldiers is NOT THAT hard?
it’s just recently that anyone has been able to get a robot to walk dynamically, and jog, and that was at the cost of millions of dollars and over a decade of research. you know, the AISMO. it’s slower than real people, more expensive to make, weaker, and likely has a very short battery life.
the right vision is making a combat humanoid robot? we already have something that does everything it could do better: people. it’s all about specialization. it’s best to make a machine that can do one thing better than anything else could, than one that can do anything, but do it worse than a person.
You sound like one of those retarded 12 year old anime fans who insist that a gundam would be the best weapon for war, and that we could make one with current technology.
and we have half the rights we did in the 1800’s?
wtf? how about blacks and women being able to vote? that not good enough for you?
because other people are idiots you think everyone else is?
ASIMO is some japanese low tech kids toy. I dont consider that an advanced robot. Sorry.
I am 23 and I think anime is for gay people.
About our rights, read the 1934 National Firearms Act, Read the 1986 “Gun Owners PRotection Act”, Read the Patriot Act(the original). Read the new cooperation with Mexico and Canada. Read about intelligence sharing with other countries. Go out to the public and see how you get searched by the police whenever they feel like it even though our constitution says we are supposed to be safe in our persons and possesions from unreasonable search and seizure. Read about RFID and what the government is funding it for. Read about GPS implants and what thay hope to do with it. Read about the laws that infringe on our first amendment for speaking about revolt and everything evil the government does so they can spy on us once we do it. Read about how we allow our goods to be made by slave labor in EVIL countries that enslave their people. Read about our cooperation between our Military and other countries. Read about how we allow foreign defense industry to operate within the country. Read about all the junk we buy from overseas for our Military. Read about all the aid we give to Israel.
There are hundreds of things that PISS me off about the country. It all went to shit in 1934 and has gotten worse and worse.
If I could wage my own war I would. It is my constitutional right as a member of the RHode Island unorganized militia to fight enemies foreign and DOMESTIC. And there are LOTS of domestic enemies.
I am only 23, I have awhile to go. But I can guarantee I am leaving this planet with a bang. For sanity and the love of my family.
I cant STAND most people in this country. They are either dumb and make their livings doing something that benefits society ZERO (like umm accountants and telemarketers). Or they are dependant on the government and live in POVERTY. Or they go through their life in a useful field but with poor education and lack of intuition and vision and basically do NOTHING to progress science and research.
THere are smart people yes. there are people that share my ideal of freedom yes. But MOST of the people dont know their history, dont care about their freedoms, think its ok for the government syndicate to do what it does.
And the amount of foreign trash that live here waving flags and speaking foreign languages is disgusting. YOU ARE AMERICAN OR YOU ARENT. IF YOU WANT TO FLY THE FLAG OF BRAZIL OR MEXICO GO THERE AND DO IT. Fake americans.
We supposedly have some of the best schools, well from what I see only a small percentage of college graduates ever do anything productive. I mean if we graduate 100,000+ Computer Engineers, where the heck are all the computer companies? I mean I dont even think that there is a SINGLE COMPUTER MOTHERBOARD MANUFACTURER IN THE UNITED STATES. Where do all these college graduates go? What are all the electrical engineers doing? It obviously isnt robotics..
This guy is at best a troll. He’s taken a news item about robots for military use and turned it into a discussion about… something else. Ignore him, post about the article or related ideas, and let him go out with a fizzle.
Hey jtw– cool down man.
I think you need to find a politics blog. What you say about America is not untrue. I can understand where you are coming from.
But — you still are a little nive about tech. The stuff this guy does…i.e. the 13″ robot dinosaur — it’s so high tech that if it felt an eggshell under it’s foot it would back up real quick before breaking it. It’s not just a heap o’ junk that walks.
Read up on this guy before you diss him. You seem to read up on anything else
Ok Carl Summers then tell me.
What military use does this robot give?
Autonomous cargo hauling?
Do you think the robot pictured in this article is going to follow a soldier in a combat environment and carry gear?
1) It probably cant move much faster then 1MPH.
2) It probably cant get over any obstacle half its height where a soldier can climb many obstacles.
3) It doesnt look to be autonomous but rather self propelled and guided by the soldier.
4) It doesnt have enough energy to operate for long amounts of time.
5) If it does have enough energy, it doesnt have enough power to carry any significant load + maintain energy in storage for any decent amount of time.
So what is the big deal about this thing? It probably runs off gas anyways and is just contributing to the death and destruction of the planet not only by fighting wars but by consuming natural unreknewable resources.
And a APC would be much better anyways because it can carry more, is multi use, is just as unstealthy as robo mule, and probably consumes the same amount of resource to operate overall. It is more economic to build 1000X APC’s then it is to build 10000X robo mule’s. 1X APC can facilitate 10X soldiers, 1X robo mule can facilitate one soldier so therfore you need to build 10X more. And you probably are extinguishing more resources building 10000X robo mule’s then you extinguish building 1000X APC’s.
So I dont see the use of it.
A self powered exoskeleton would be more worthwhile. Because not only can it carry gear, it can be equipped with armor to protect the soldier and allow the soldier to carry and equip larger weapons that he normally would not be able to carry or operate as an individual in the flesh and bones with no mechanical aid.
Applied Minds, more like Wannabee Minds looking for .gov money because they cant make a living in the real world.
I think we already started fielding these things anyways, thought I seen it on the Military Channel “Star Wars Weapons of the Future” program.
What a joke that show was, we are in sad shape.
viva la revolucion! yeah, we’ll see how this overfunded crap will work when the battle is on a muddy hillside, after some mortar rounds land nearby and a sniper catches this turd walking (?) around.
It wont be until 2010 until the Army decides it invents the idea of an anti mortar system. 30 billion dollars later we might actually get one.
We probably have some guy manning the phalanx and dont actually have a fire control system for it. And we probably only have them guarding bases.
We dont need RPG and mortar protection for our troops, they are expendable. Lets send them out on patrol despite the fact we cant detect explosives and have no protection from enemy indirect and direct fire besides our vehicle armor.
BRILLIANT.
We have all the right people making all the right decisions *bangs head into wall*..
Nevermind a counter sniper system, we developed audio traiangulation, we dont need anything else. Our little antennas on the top of our vehicle will tell us when we got shot after the fact. What else could you ask for!
We dont need unmanned gun platforms we will ride around with our upper body sticking out manning a machine gun and hope our microphones and 1″ armor protects us from snipers, RPG’s, mortars and IEDS’s.
And if we need stuff, we can rely on ROBO MULE to be right behind us (only if we take attention to pull it around).
I can tell money and brainpower is well used in the Military.
Stingy with the research money though, I guess the more you suck and the more stupid you are determines how much money and attention you get.
And im pretty sure that big robot could only detect an egg under its foot in controlled experiment. But is it really that hard? I mean put a sensor on its foot like a pressure pad. Slowly have the robot lower its leg and if the sensor pad sends back a signal, stop the leg.
Hardly innovative and hardly remarkable.
What obstacles could it overcome? I never seen it overcome any obstacles. IM sure it was all carefully staged anyways.
Lets give the guy money because he built the ultimate junkyard wars contraption! Awesome and he only had years to do it and unlimited products to choose from!
Genius? LOL
Hey jtw… tell your mom I said that if she doesn’t reign her son in, I’m going to be bringing the nipple clamps with me
The crude, juveline comments above are scary. You folks are a sad example of what (little) passes for wit in America today.
Combine Wheels & Legs:
Wheels for smoother surface & faster speeds, Legs for Mtns etc terrain.
Legs can Retract into Main Body for Wheel Mode Use.
Very doable.
Alas, vehicle would need 2 engines or modifed 1 engine for Wheel Mode & Leg Mode.
& gyrostabalizer for Leg Use Mode.
Other Robo Mule markets:
Exploration
SAR
Heavy cargoes
Recon role
Mapping
MedEvac.
Robo Mules can be airdropped into sites unlike WW2 era mules for China Burma Theatre.
I dubb the Robo Mule the StillWell Vehicle.
Gen Joseph Stillwill from China CBI.
Well, I guess defensetech has the same problem as other tech web sites — dorks like jtw and rickeydickey who have all the knowledge, clarity and certainty of adolescents. Interesting how things get complicated as people grow up and acquire some insight and experience. Like any other 15-year-old fanatics, they are best ignored and kept under surveillance by their mommies or the police.
As a first-time visitor, I appreciate the efforts of some other commenters to refocus on the topic of the post, since that is really what brought (most of) us to this site in the first place. It’s hard because dorks are so annoying, fanatic, insistent, pretentious, self-important, grandiose, intolerant, inaccurate and flammable. Often wrong, as they say, but never in doubt.
Anyone who has been in the military will immedately recognize the value of a “mule” type device. What you can do in the field often depends on what you can bring with you. Good idea. Keep working on it.
Spooky how the trolls come in.
TJW, Obviously you know nothing about technology. You may be using some big words but that doesnt mean you know what they mean, and if you had fully read the article which im guessing you dont like to read, then you would have seen that the robot pictured was only a prototype, imagine how many lightbulbs were made before one was perfected, so why cant it be the same with this? Trial and error is a big part in something like this. This guy could have a major break through here, and i dont see him spending your money so SHUT UP.
i’ll buy a portion of that ticket… i imagine your mommy and daddy will put up the rest!
I have an idea. Why not use a readily available product that does the same thing. Carries a couple hundred pounds. Its environmentally friendly, it has low level AI to follow a soldier and try to stay alive. It needs no gasoline or electricity. Its called a mule and it cost less than $1000 and in a pinch you can eat it.
LISA — good call, no GREAT call.
LOL
James
jtw
i think you are making a lot of sense, truly.
i also see some value, though, in the use of some type of robotic or proto-robotic device that could convey much like a pack animal.
Hey jtw -
And about 90% of the people over here have some grasp of the english language. Hey, even the mexican people do. You note I say over “here”. Yes I am European 
i think you miss the point.
It is the principle of the mule, the idea, not the technology that makes it good.
An idea does not have to be complicated to be good
Why would politicians in europe not be able to understand english? England is in europe. I bet they can
Most english/American people do not have a grasp of a second language…am I trying to make a point? I do not think so. I know.
i like the self powered exoskeleton idea that jtw mentioned earlier. i’ve thought about it before and i think it would be a great advancement to the military. i dont think this mule is very efficient, although its a start for some trial and error. i do not believe the finished product will be anything like what is shown.
How about Investing in eliminating all need for wartime devices and schemes? It is interesting that robotics innovations are often developed primarily for military applications. I understand the importance of load carrying, it is just sad that new concepts are developed first for security/defense=($$$)
then enterprise=($$),
then consumer=($) or sometimes
that middle grade of health care/subsidies, for taking care of the people who got shot following a robotic mule around in the first place. What good is that for a starting point? Investing in health-care that re-enables humans right from the start would do the greatest good.
Hey JTW,
Did you know the selective service is looking for you? Oh, don’t worry about the mule. Everyone else will be getting one. You can take your RTV. During combat, you may want to shut its noisy engine off so you can sneak past the oposition by pushing it rather than getting caught! When you are in clear grounds, you may still want to keep an eye out for sharp objects on the ground as you just have one spare tire. When your RTV does get canned, maybe you can borrow one of those robotic mules to carry your RTV back to the heli pick up point so it can be hauled away to a shop in the nearest base.
RTV? Well, it is the Reckless Terrain Vehicle
The robotic mule could be the real All Terain Vehicle
Ye of little faith? What the hell? Not everything is going to work, not everything is NOT going to work. It’s just an idea, used to be that you could have one without somebody jumping down your throat and screaming at you like a crazy monkey. Science fiction at it’s finiest has spoiled us. So we end up with a whole bunch of people with higher standards then we’re at right then. Let’s just take things one step at a time, not everything is shit, and an idea is just a idea for crying out loud! If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, and that’ll be enough justification instead of you having your smug pride that you knew it wouldn’t work first. Geeze, things don’t have to be taken so damn seriously! Indeed, I’m somewhat dubious about the relevence of a robot muel but it’s still just an idea and people have them all the time. Peace & Chill, please?
Nice video of a similar project:
Whegs:
http://biorobots.cwru.edu/projects/whegs/whegs.html
http://biorobots.cwru.edu/projects/whegs/WhegsII-ICRA2004.mov
Mini-whegs:
http://biorobots.cwru.edu/projects/whegs/miniwhegs.html
http://biorobots.cwru.edu/Projects/whegs/ICRAminiwhegs_web.mov
jtw, as an robotic/mechatronic engineer I can safely say you sound like a child trying to negotiate with a judge. On the other hand, as a human being I can safely say you are one of those people with an average to low I.Q. who fully believes in their superior intellect (means you think your smart), and backs it up with ridiculous rhetoric. Also you are probably an as.s.hole. excuse my French.
correct me if im wrong but from reading u all complain, why r u complaining?? u know when defence technolagy affects u then give some input. what do civis know about what this robot has to do??? what u saw jarhead the movie so now all of a sudden ur an expert on what things are like in any type od field today??
Whoever thinks this “robomule” has a logical future for use for anything but a rockingchair, has the intelegence of a mule’s backside. For use as a means of weight transfer, you did not reinvent the wheel, you complicated it. This robomule (“rocking”) mule is the dumbest thing I ever heard of. Plrase go and get your head examined, so you can find where the little voices come from. You know the little voices that tell you that “this is not the dumbest thing you ever heard of” too.