King Pup's NYC Blog Dog

Pants of relief were heard all over America today with the news that a dog-draft will not be enforced after all. Rumors had been circulating that the Pentagon was considering the idea of compulsory service for dogs in order to take some of the pressure off of our already overstretched military - the most persistent rumors being that the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency was working on a new bark-activated helicopter and that over a million camouflage-green dog baskets had been ordered from Petco.

Now it seems that the agency was in fact working on a battalion of robot dogs instead - presumably because they’ve had a think about it and realized (quite rightly) that soldiers who instantly roll over for anyone who promises tummy rubs are about as much use as chocolate frying pans.

So here you have it. This new robot “dog” - which looks like a cross between a tarantula and Bruce Willis - moves along at a rip-roaring 4mph (almost as fast as the average pug), climbs slopes up to 35 degrees steep (almost as impressive as this bulldog)  and can walk across rubble while carrying a 340lb load (suckers!).

The funniest part of this demonstration video comes at around 0:35 when we’re supposed to be impressed at the sight of the droid retaining its footing after some jackass kicks it from the side. Let me tell you pal - you try and knock me over like this and not only will I stay upright, I’ll bite you in the freaking groin.

Filed under: Dog Science, Lazy Humans by Bob