> <i>The stepping of the robot was controlled by a human operator through foot and hand movements coupled to hydraulic valves.</i><p>> <i>The walking truck was one of the first technological hardware design applications to incorporate force feed-back to give the operator a feel of what was happening.</i><p>This might sound primitive in today's autonomy-driven mindset, but in contrast to autonomous robots, this is a technology that could be delivered today (or was already delivered in 1965, according to the article).<p>So if infantry really does need hardware to move stuff from A to B, the 1965 approach -- primitive as it is -- might be the simplest solution.
Video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMGCFLEYakM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMGCFLEYakM</a><p>The thing looks a little top heavy to me. I wonder if there are airbags :)<p>Also - external hydraulics seems like quite a limitation.
Interesting, perhaps the inspiration behind the walking battle machines[0] in my favourite table top board game "Scythe"[1].<p>Interesting to see a real life Mech!<p>[0] - <a href="http://www.heavymetal.com/news/these-amazing-paintings-raised-1-8-million-for-a-board-game/" rel="nofollow">http://www.heavymetal.com/news/these-amazing-paintings-raise...</a>
[1] - <a href="https://stonemaiergames.com/games/scythe/" rel="nofollow">https://stonemaiergames.com/games/scythe/</a>
> It alternatively bore the name of "CAM", an acronym for "cybernetic anthropomorphous machine"<p>now that's a seriously cool name!<p>The pic makes me think of Strandbeests and derivatives: <a href="https://www.strandbeest.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.strandbeest.com/</a>
The reminds me of this video [1] where the guy builds these out of wood and paper and powers them with wind. Increadible.<p>[1] <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LewVEF2B_pM" rel="nofollow">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LewVEF2B_pM</a>
That thing looks amazing! A similar concept was these walking harvesters <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pJwDZXasKU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pJwDZXasKU</a>
There was a walking logging machine developed by Finnish company Plustech Oy in the mid-nineties and later bought by John Deere who tried to commercialize it but it didn't meet much success.<p>"[It] was designed with sensitive or by other means harder to reach terrain with minimum impact on the environment in mind."<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pJwDZXasKU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pJwDZXasKU</a><p><a href="http://www.theoldrobots.com/Walking-Robot2.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.theoldrobots.com/Walking-Robot2.html</a><p><a href="http://www.unusuallocomotion.com/pages/museums/museum-of-lusto-in-finland-forest-machinery.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.unusuallocomotion.com/pages/museums/museum-of-lus...</a> (Near the bottom)
Why are these walking machines always so slow? I think Neal Stephenson described a skateboard with hundreds of tiny feet, moving faster than wheels on any surface. I want to see that.