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Legged Squad Support System

Scuttlebutt  //  August 12th, 2010  //  By Marines Magazine Staff

Legged Squad Support System

Legged Squad Support System

The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, along with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Boston Dynamics, are working together to develop a robot that will lighten the load for Marines in remote locations. The Legged Squad Support System program developed a robot that can travel to areas that humvees can’t with minimal supervision. Taking a page from nature, the LS3 will get around using four legs.

“Wheeled and tracked vehicles are very limited in where they can go, but legged animals and people can go almost anywhere on Earth,” said Marc Raibert, the leader of the LS3 group at Boston Dynamics.To make sure the LS3 knows where it is going, the robot will either follow a designated Marine or travel to a specific location using GPS coordinates. This eliminates the need for a driver, allowing Marines to stay focused on the mission. The proposed design for the LS3 includes the ability to travel 20 miles without refueling and to carry 400 pounds of gear.

Boston Dynamics plans for the development to take 30 months, with a working prototype ready by 2012.

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  • jesse perez

    i agree with Robert Hill. This would be a very helpful tool for the frontlines. They would be able to reinforce it with bulletproof padding on the inside and use heavy duty metal (steel im assuming) to prevent it from being stopped. I mean I am looking to join the marines and i personally belive this would be a great thing to have during the firefights that have you pinned down..

  • Thorp

    Is that Master Chief’s dog???

  • McGowan

    Is it just me, or are other people thinking “Star Wars” when they see this? Whats next? A 12 story tall version that fires rockets and has miniguns? (Not that that wouldn’t be awesome!)

    Though I do like the concept. It will more then likely be camouflage-able and probably low profile, to make spotting it much harder. I wouldn’t be surprised if a 7.62×39 was mounted onto it somewhere to make it useful in a fire fight. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it was completely MOLLEE. Being able to change this robot per-mission would be great.

    -Sam

  • Robert Hill

    Do the creators of this robot have in mind to use this for resupply as well? I mean if we have Marines that are out on the front lines this machine could resupply them without getting lives lost, maybe they could reinforce the body to protect the internal parts and possibly add speed to its pocket of tricks. I think this would be a great asset in the fight.

    Semper Fi,

  • Cole Frechette

    This would actually be very handy for the war in the middle east because this would enable the marines to travel to places (like said above) that otherwise they could not reach with just the Humvee or the APC vehicles. I am curious tho how you would be able to have what looks like a very large machine travel twenty miles without refueling… Also if a squad of marines is traveling on say a hill top don’t you think that machine is very obvious to the enemies that may be looking over in that direction… And a suggestion if the LS3 is not as big as the picture above makes it appear, then you might want to consider changing it because I’m sure other onlookers of this article are thinking the same thing about the LS3 size…

    Thanks,
    Cfrechette

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