"Big Dog" is a scary walking robot about to be deployed in Afghanistan (video) (opens in new tab)

Test-deployment? Interesting.

Personally, I don't get the "scary" aspect of the BigDog. It has surprisingly lifelike movement, but that doesn't alarm me. I actually winced the first time they demonstrated one keeping its footing after being kicked in the side.

Heck, it's probably one of the most benign machines we're testing in Iraq or Afghanistan right now...

As ridiculously cool as this technology is, I can't help but think that there are some significantly cheaper, more stealthy, more reliable, smarter alternatives out there which are capable of self-replication and independent fuel discovery...