Envision this: it is twilight as you wander through the woods. It is all quiet…until you hear the distant thump of four legs in the distance. You look up, only to see a four legged robot coming towards you. You flee into the underbrush, peeing in your pants in fear as you go.

Nightmare? Nope…it is reality and it’s coming soon. BigDog, which we’ve covered in the past, is being developed by Boston Dynamics as a quadruped robot which can climb hard terrain and carry big loads. Development is funded by the DARPA Defense Sciences Office, so you can imagine the possible military uses of this. You could probably also use it to scare away any muggers who might be following you at night.

BigDog [via CrunchGear]