Throughout history, many technological advances have been achieved thanks to the development of their war or space applications. And it seems that humanoid robots will be no exception. The best example is PETMAN , an anthropomorphic robot-soldier created by the Boston Dinamics company who walks practically like a human .
As the company has just announced, PETMAN (acronym for Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin ) will be used to test whether the suits used by the US military are effective in protecting soldiers in case of exposure to chemical weapons or certain toxic substances. The good news is that, thanks to its wide repertoire of movements, this mechanical “guinea pig” sways, moves, walks, and makes practically the same gestures that a human would do. In addition, to further simulate real-world conditions, PETMAN heats up and sweats inside the suit , increasing the temperature and humidity.
At the moment the skeleton of this automaton is developed only from the legs down, but the feeling of naturalness when seeing its movements is absolute. When the development of PETMAN is complete, probably in the middle of 2011 , it will be the first robot with the shape, size and way of walking identical to a person of flesh and blood.
