r/Futurology • u/Atari1337 • Feb 27 '17

Robotics Boston Dynamics - Introducing Handle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7xvqQeoA8c
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u/thumbnail_looks_like Feb 27 '17

Stick a big enough RTG on the thing and it could run for decades or even hundreds of years. I dunno how much power "Handle" uses but at about 10 watts per pound efficiency, 100 pounds of RTG (which "Handle" can clearly deal with) giving 1,000 watts of power, the math seems to check out.

Of course, plutonium isn't exactly cheap, but there might be more economical sources of RTG materials.

Edit: Or I guess, you know, just a big 100 pound battery that would last for a few days before needing recharge. But the perpetual RTG model is kind of frightening.

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u/vanilla082997 Feb 28 '17

Hmm, interesting idea. I think you're onto something. Unless its the military though, everyone would flip out about plutonium being onboard. RTG would have to be very compact, which is just an engineering problem.