Slashdot Mirror
Where Jules Verne Meets Star Wars: GE's Walking Truck
An anonymous reader writes "This July 4th weekend, millions of Americans will head to the air-conditioned confines of their local multiplex to take in Harry Potter, Captain America and other summer blockbusters. A military relic that foreshadowed a sci-fi vehicle featured in perhaps the most popular summer movie of all time – Star Wars – is on exhibit at the U.S. Army Transportation Musem at Fort Eustis: GE's Pedipulator, or 'Walking Truck,' developed for the U.S. Army in the mid-'60s. GE's quadroped was first imagined and lumbered through its testing paces in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, starting in 1962, 15 years before George Lucas's AT-AT walkers debuted on the big screen."
Turn in your nerd card subby. AT-ATs debuted in The Empire Strikes Back - 1980. That would be 18 years after 1962.
The "walking trucks" (AT-ATs) didn't appear until Empire Strikes Back, right?
Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
Check out this robo-mule. It runs of a two-stroke engine and can withstand a kick to the side. The way in which it corrects itself in realtime is no different than that of a real animal. In fact, the motion is kinda creepy. A four legged headless beast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHJJQ0zNNOM
Life is not for the lazy.