We wrote about this robotic horse (LS3 model) a year ago (cyborg 2, b&g page 59) mocking (what else?) the American soldiers who, in case of malfunction, would have to carry not only their load but also the robot itself.
There are newer ones (at least, for the friends of the robotic fauna). The American army decided that the LS3 “doesn’t work for them”: its air propulsion (it is said) makes too much noise – how come we didn’t notice the exhaust? The noise, undoubtedly, has nothing to do with the ears of American infantrymen but with those of their future enemies: if you’re going to climb the mountain shouting that “you’re coming”… better leave it. Both the robot and the operation.
What a pity. It was “a good effort” (and, we assume, the research and trials cost a fortune – never mind: the sucker citizens pay). The noisy LS3 could carry up to 180 kilos, and accepted audio and visual commands. It was a joint project of Boston Dynamics (a robot manufacturing company that has been bought by Google since 2013…) and the research arm of the American Pentagon, known as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
For a moment, Boston Dynamics tried to save the project by creating an electric alternative quadruped solution, the “spot” model. Despite the successful tests of spot in September 2015, the US Army is not interested in this one either: it can only carry a maximum of 18 kilos, and (they didn’t say it this way but that’s what they meant) “we don’t want pot plants”.