My guess is that military is buying up all their tech. We usually hear these teasers designed to encourage decision makers to speed up the funding. It's like putting a gun on their head "if you don't buy this, we will sell to someone else". After the rounds of funding is over we hear silence. It is not unlike many other cool very promising research projects but they can be threatening if other countries get their hands on them. Their main page says...
Organizations worldwide, from DARPA, the US Army, Navy and Marine Corps...
> It's like putting a gun on their head "if you don't buy this, we will sell to someone else".
I don't understand where you're going here. The linked video shows a robot designed under DARPA's M3 program. This was DARPA's initiative. DARPA has had a string of highly successful practical robotics programs.
Guys in sunglasses don't knock on Tony Stark's door and buy ready-make gadgets. BD bids against other contractors to take money offered by the government to do original R&D. The work would not get done if the government didn't pony up the money in advance. Often they don't get a hell of a lot for their money beyond the training of grad students and engineers who did the work. Sometimes a program kicks ass and changes the world, e.g. Internet.
Sometimes the government knows what it wants and the programs are very focussed, e.g. we need proof of concept demos for small radios that can perform X, Y, under Z conditions. Sometimes the programs are very blue sky and strategic, e.g. we don't want the other guys to get ahead in robotics, so let's make sure we keep up. Please send us your proposals for around $BALLPARK and we'll pick the most promising.
The focussed kind of program always exists. The funding for blue sky programs comes and goes, depending on the political climate and the personalities of the incumbent director and program managers.
But the government doesn't buy tech to keep it off the streets. One great thing about DARPA funding is that the government doesn't own the IP afterwards. They often don't even insist on a free license to use it themselves. They just want it to exist so they can choose the best stuff later.
Organizations worldwide, from DARPA, the US Army, Navy and Marine Corps...