Joe Pappalardo reports on the day the marines met their robotic mule. Much is left unrevealed by the amazing and unsettling videos.
Pfc. Marcus Beedle looks over his shoulder at the robot following him. The machine's four legs are eagerly stamping the grass, its sensor-laden head held high. "LS3, follow tight," Beedle says to the robot, and the Legged Squad Support System—which stands taller than a dog but smaller than a mule—follows in the exact footsteps of its Marine Corps handler. … The LS3 is made for war zones, but it is not viewed as a weapon. It's a mule—though some Marines would like to see a little more. "We'd love a machine gun on it," says 1st Lt. Alex Hurran.