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I'm sure you are all well-acquainted with the crazy quadrupled BigDog robot, but if it had a master to walk with, it would probably look something like the Petman.

Actually, the similarity is not surprising considering that the walking robot was designed by Boston Dynamics, the same company behind BigDog. Petman has been in development for some time now, but this is the first chance we have had to view his human-like stride.

The military plans to use it to test out clothing for soldiers that needs to be completely protective and not strain or open up under any sort of human articulated movement. It's capable of crawling, as well as walking at 3.2 mph. And like the Big Dog, it can keep its balance when you shove it.

This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.

(Credit: Sandia National Laboratories)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has demoed its Precision Urban Hopper robot, a wheeled ground unit that can leap over 25-foot-tall obstacles and keep on truckin'.

Seen in the video below, released last week by the Sandia National Laboratory, the shoebox-size Hopper easily takes on a chain-link fence, bounces a bit after landing, and then keeps rolling. It seems that a piston-fired leg makes it fly.

The Precision Urban Hopper is being developed by Sandia and Boston Dynamics, creator of the famously creepy BigDog robot, for surveillance operations in urban terrain. Guided by GPS, it is designed to "bolster the capabilities of troops and special forces engaged in urban combat," navigating autonomously, according to Jon Salton, a program manager at Sandia.

Sandia said hopping has "shown to be five times more fuel-efficient than hovering," when it comes to getting around obstacles less than 30 feet tall. It added that other potential applications of the Hopper include law enforcement, homeland security, search and rescue, and exploring other planets.

Testing and delivery of the Hopper is scheduled for late 2010.

(Credit: Tomy)

Japanese toymaker Tomy has released a new dog translator gadget that can turn barks into words.

Bowlingual Voice is an update to Bowlingual, first released way back in 2002. The new version speaks with a human voice from a handheld unit wirelessly linked to a microphone around the dog's collar. The original version had no voice synthesizer.

Bowlingual Voice recognizes six basic canine emotions. Tomy says it can simultaneously translate the woofs of about 50 breeds of dog into Japanese.

Not surprisingly, the dogs say things like "I love you!" and not "Stop feeding me the same crap every day."

Another new feature is the use of the 2.4GHz band for transmission, which supposedly eliminates interference from other Bowlingual units. Tomy says you can use up to five Bowlinguals at the same time to translate doggie conversations. As seen in the Japanese video below, one dog asks, "Do you like me?" while the other says, "Go away!"

The handheld unit also has features like an "action dictionary" to help decipher the emotional states of hounds that don't bark much; a dog quiz; and a scheduler for trimmings and vet visits.

The idea of a dog translator sounds wacky, but Tomy says there's some science behind it. Japan Acoustic Laboratory's Matsumi Suzuki, an acoustics expert, developed the system that recognizes canine vocalizations.

I remember interviewing staff for an article in Japan Inc magazine when the original model came out. It notes that "the actual text messages are chosen at random from about 40 preset phrases within the emotion categories."

As far as I can tell, this random feature is part of Bowlingual Voice, which makes it more of an approximate interpreter than something like the universal translator from Star Trek and other science fiction tales.

You can get it on Amazon Japan for 18,900 yen, or about $200. There's no word on if or when it might be released outside Japan.

Awwww, so cute! The animals are the stars of these calendar apps, which, unfortunately, have little practical value.

If you're the kind of person who melts at the sight of kittens, puppies, and other furry friends, check out iPhoneCalendars.com. The site is home to two dozen animal-themed calendars for iPhone and iPod Touch.

Specifically, these are like small-screen replacements for those month-at-a-glance calendars people traditionally hang on the wall.

Consequently, they're best suited to people who dock their devices at their desks, where the calendar can stay visible throughout the day.

The selections include cats, kittens, puppies, and over a dozen individual dog breeds (from Beagle to Yorkshire Terrier). Coming soon: nonanimal calendars like flowers, beaches, nature, and, um, Obama.

Each calendar costs 99 cents. Unfortunately, they're really nothing more than image collections; they don't tie into your regular calendar at all. The sole interaction you have with the app is swiping between months (or tapping the superfluous, photo-obscuring Back/Next buttons).

Of course, serious animal-lovers won't care. If you want to save a tree this year and relegate your cute-critter calendar to your iPhone, now you can.

This dog looks seriously bummed.

(Credit: GeekAlerts)

I don't have a dog right now, but if I did, I totally wouldn't trust it to roam around my apartment while I'm not there. Who knows what kind of mischief it'll get into or what it'll find lurking in my sock drawer. This Pet's Eye View Camera makes it easy to keep track of your dog, but $55 is too expensive for what appears to be a glorified Webcam.

There's not a lot going on here in terms of technology: the little USB still camera attaches to your pet's collar and can automatically take pictures at 1-, 5-, or 15-minute intervals. The camera can hold a total of 40 shots in 640x480 resolution. It seems like the camera would be more efficient if it could automatically upload pictures via Wi-Fi to an online account like Flickr or Snapfish so you can monitor your animals on the fly, but as it stands you can only check out the pictures after the damage has been done.

The next time you find yourself combing through the refrigerator trying to find that missing steak, consult the camera--all signs point to Beethoven.

The Pet's Eye View camera is available on I Want One of Those for $55.

These days, it always seems to come back around to food, and analyzing each other's food issues is pretty enlightening. Here are some tools to appease the inner food critic.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 141

Flint woman invents Corner Cap to keep boxes of food from spilling

World’s smallest microwave also has world’s worst name

Aero Blue Robot prepares to dish out unemployment to Japanese waiters

Chocolate scented calculator is torture for dieters

Hot Dogs to Go (thanks, engnr_chik!)

If it's not a right angle, it's a wrong angle. That's exactly the ethos that has inspired the type of precise, structured and rigidly useful gadgetry that we highlight in today's episode.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 138

The perfect father’s day gift for the Type A griller

Size your burgers your way

Cocoon’s laptop bag is perfect for type A personalities

Sensor-laden kokoro adjusts playlist to match the rhythm of your heart

GameDr destroys recreation of youth

Sony’s 400-disc BDP-CX7000ES Blu-ray Mega Changer reportedly coming soon

Treat your pets right this Mother's Day! We spend equal time talking about gifts for mom and for fluffy. Go figure.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 136

Petairways.com–for the pet who loves to travel (Thanks Sheala!)

Honda unveils dog-friendly car

The Tweeting Cat Door (Thanks Nathan!)

New worm-like floor-cleaning robot threatens Roomba’s dominance

Digigrade Leg Extensions

Dog poo recycler

Special Edition Mother’s Day Gender Gap
Danielle Steel Limited Edition Reader Digital Book is More of the Same just in Red (No! Don’t do it! Get a Kindle instead!)

Mother of the Year video

Mother’s Day shirt for the geeky mom-to-be

A propos (of) nothing
Lego sunglasses let you build your own fashion

What a concept
Portable toaster

Why didn’t I think of that?
PermaFLOW Self Cleaning Drain System

Pretty
Gorgeous iphone cases (thanks fernando!)

Good Vibrations (Thanks Fred!)
DIY Steam punk vibrators

You can't tell me someone didn't think of glowing red eyes. Or even glowing white eyes. Just glowing eyes in general is cooler than a glowing red body...under ultraviolet light.

The Associated Press is reporting that South Korean scientists have cloned four dogs with the "power" to glow under ultraviolet light.

By day, mild-mannered (assumed) beagles. By night, they glow red...Um, OK?

According to the AP article, this is a photo of one of the glowing dogs, but I honestly can't really discern what I'm looking at here. I guess I'll have to take the AP's word for it.

(Credit: Seoul National University)

Basically, the scientists did this to prove that it's possible to insert a specific trait into a living animal. The scientists hope that this process could be used to fight diseases.

All well and good, but I'm just saying: glowing eyes, much cooler.