PETMAN

PETMAN, a two-legged, 180-pound machine nearly six feet tall. Boston Dynamics, which has created a slew of robots for the military over the years, is expected today to publicly unveil the first video of the nearly fully developed PETMAN, power-walking on a treadmill in the company’s labs.

PETMAN, an acronym for Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin, does not look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who played the Terminator killing machine in the first of a series of movies. For one thing, PETMAN still lacks a head, and it can’t say “Hasta la vista, baby.’’

PETMAN is an anthropomorphic robot developed by Boston Dynamics for testing special clothing used by the US Army. PETMAN balances itself as it walks, squats and does simple calisthenics. PETMAN simulates human physiology by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating inside the clothing to provide realistic test conditions. PETMAN development is lead by Boston Dynamics, working in partnership with Measurement Technologies Northwest, Oak Ridge National Lab and MRIGlobal. The work is being done for the US Army PD-CCAT-TI. For more information about PETMAN visit us at www.BostonDynamics.com.