The leader of the pack is Boston Dynamics, who had a blip in the news cycle a year ago when search giant Google determined that in order to continue as a company with a stated motto of “don’t be evil” they needed to control a cybernetic zoo whose primary customer is DARPA, the Pentagon’s Defense Advance Research Projects Agency. From Big Dog, the four-legged canine bot who can pad his way across any terrain, withstand blows, and even hurl cinderblocks if so inclined, to Wild Cat, modeled for a cheetah and boasting a Usain Bolt topping max speed of over 28 MPH, this former MIT-based company is making sure if global warming brings the flood soon, their beasties won’t need no stinking ark.
It’s not just on land that Terminator-esque critters are gaining traction and making Elon Musk stomp his soapbox about an Artificial Intelligence takeover. Just last month the Navy announced it had crafted an underwater drone that looks like a shark and can fin its way autonomously throughout the seas. Dubbed Ghostswimmer, their hope is that it replaces the trained dolphins and sea lions currently being employed to locate underwater mines. Robo-Jaws will be joining Robojelly in the government’s aquatic arsenal, their “bio-inspired” hydrogen-fueled jellyfish surveillance drone.
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