Big Dog Grows An Appendage

Now Boston Dynamics' BigDog can lift and toss (w/ video). It had to happen sooner or later. Big Dog, the Boston Dynamics, the rough terrain robot that can climb rough mountain grades and navigate deep ravines, has grown an appendage that makes it well on the way to being a useful machine in many environments. The appendage, which looks like an elephant trunk and which protrudes from the front of the machine, can pick up and move heavy objects, unattended by humans. I really could have used one of these as a teenager, when I spent holiday nights unloading box cars filled with 75 pound sacks of Sears Catalogues. That was back when the suckers were big and thick. I don't think I have shopped in a Sears since.