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Navy/USMC

Navy Lab To Test Small, Four-Legged Robot

By Marc Selinger

Wednesday, March 15th, 2017

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Navy Lab To Test Small, Four-Legged Robot

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's Meso-scale Robotic Locomotion Initiative (MeRLIn) is developing a small, four-legged robot. (Photo by Marc Selinger/Defense Daily)

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is developing a backpack-portable, four-legged robot to conduct surveillance for ground troops on terrain that is too difficult for wheeled or tracked systems to navigate.NRL's Meso-scale Robotic Locomotion Initiative (MeRLIn), which displayed prototypes of its quadruped at the Pentagon March 15, plans to begin testing its robot in a lab later this year. The “Butch” version will be tethered to provide power and command and control. An upcoming variant, “Scout,” will be untethered.The program is investigating the…

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