The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on a robotic "pack mule" to help shoulder the load for dismounted soldiers. What DARPA calls the Legged Squad Support System (LS3) is based on Big Dog and Alpha Dog robot prototypes developed by Boston Dynamics. To see what's going on, take a look at this compilation video of the earlier Big Dog robot from Boston Dynamics.
For a more up-to-date presentation on the state of the LS3 program, watch the video of the Alpha Dog featured in this news release from DARPA.
The robotics technology is impressive, but it raises the question of what was wrong with this program.