I should caveat subsequent comments by saying that I would have given my childhood for this toy (and therein I would have learnt the meaning of irony too, but I digress).
Anyway I am wondering what this could really be intended for. If it is indeed meant to carry a camera payload for cheap soldier surveillance, then I have an alternative suggestion: http://www.amazon.com/Parrot-AR-Drone-Quadricopter-Controlle.... This $298 quad-copter with two mounted cameras seems like it could do the job just fine. (Incidentally on the subject of cheap RC toys saving soldiers' lives and proving themselves viable short-term options: http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2011/08/04/traxxas-rc-truck-...). Anyway, especially with Petman (http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_petman.html) purportedly being for chemical suit testing (which in my opinion is like saying crash dummies need to have guns and machine vision), Boston Dynamics has shown that it likes releasing potentially mid-path projects for other-than-ultimately-intended purposes (makes perfect sense from a testing perspective). So I wonder what Sand Flea could be working towards other than surveillance? 11 lbs./30 ft is not bad considering a quad copter of similar size would be probably max 4-6 lbs. So maybe they are gearing it up for heavier payloads. Nothing like the 400 lbs alpha dog carries (at that point, assuming similar tech, the Sand Flea would have to be big enough to basically just roll over single-story buildings), but perhaps an explosive payload or something in the neighborhood of 10-20 lbs.
The Sand Flea would be able to monitor an area for far longer and is much quieter than a quadcopter. Also, the Sand Flea can enter buildings/caves, and likely carry a small munition load.
The REF doesn't invest in things that aren't ready to go to the sandbox. I think this is far further along than mid-stage.
Anyway I am wondering what this could really be intended for. If it is indeed meant to carry a camera payload for cheap soldier surveillance, then I have an alternative suggestion: http://www.amazon.com/Parrot-AR-Drone-Quadricopter-Controlle.... This $298 quad-copter with two mounted cameras seems like it could do the job just fine. (Incidentally on the subject of cheap RC toys saving soldiers' lives and proving themselves viable short-term options: http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2011/08/04/traxxas-rc-truck-...). Anyway, especially with Petman (http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_petman.html) purportedly being for chemical suit testing (which in my opinion is like saying crash dummies need to have guns and machine vision), Boston Dynamics has shown that it likes releasing potentially mid-path projects for other-than-ultimately-intended purposes (makes perfect sense from a testing perspective). So I wonder what Sand Flea could be working towards other than surveillance? 11 lbs./30 ft is not bad considering a quad copter of similar size would be probably max 4-6 lbs. So maybe they are gearing it up for heavier payloads. Nothing like the 400 lbs alpha dog carries (at that point, assuming similar tech, the Sand Flea would have to be big enough to basically just roll over single-story buildings), but perhaps an explosive payload or something in the neighborhood of 10-20 lbs.