Dog Wan weighs about five kilograms; it has a two-axis head and tail and stands about 700 mm tall and 530 mm long. Dog Wan can walk forwards and backwards, turn, sit. It can even walk while carrying a small bag as shown in the picture above.
(Dog Wan robot video)
Regular readers know that among my various quests is the desire to find John Brunner's autoporter in the real world, not just in his 1975 novel The Shockwave Rider.
From now until his credit expired the machine would carry his bag in its soft plastic jaws and follow him as faithfully as a well-trained hound, which indeed it resembled...
(Read more about Brunner's autoporter)
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
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you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
SpaceX Intros Extravehicular Activity Suit
'Provision had been made to meet the terrific cold which we knew would be encountered the moment we had passed beyond the atmosphere.'
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'