PORTFOLIO

BigDog By Boston Dynamics

 

Sensors

Big dog features many sensors for movement and navigation, these sensors monitor, joint position, joint force, ground contact and ground load. There is also a gyroscope, LIDAR and stereo vision system, to navigate. Some internal sensor also monitor the hydraulic pressure, oil temperature, engine functions, battery charge, among other things.

Controllers

Big dog is controlled by an on board, PC/104 board stack with a Pentium 4 class processing unit running QNX. This on board computer uses information from BigDogs many sensors, and commands given by humans, to determine the best course of action for the required task.

Actuators/End Effectors

BigDog has a total of 16 leg actuators, four in each leg. There are two actuators in the hip joint, and one for both the knee and ankle of each leg. All actuators are controlled by a 15-HP go-kart engine operating at over 9,000 RPM.

What It Does

BigDog operates with information given by the sensors, which it processes in the on board computer. Information from the leg sensors communicate with the on board computer to determine the ideal weight on each leg, and the ideal position of the body during each step. This information is then given to the actuators which adjusts the hip, knee and ankle joints to the ideal position for movement. This process is repeated for each step the BigDog takes for optimal movement.

What its Used for

Bog dog is capable of carrying up to 310lb, and is being designed with the idea of being a soldier support vehicle or mule to carry large loads. Actual use of BigDog in this sense may be a long time off, but the future seems bright.