Boston Dynamics’ Spot Is A Good Boi!
Do you love dogs? Do you love robots? What about a dogbot? That’s right! Boston Dynamics came up with a quadruped robot — Spot and Spot Mini. After coming up with the concept of Atlas (a humanoid biped robot) showing mind-blowing tricks like parkour, they have done something exceptional again. Are you ready to find out?
What is the fuss about?
“The Spot Mini robot is one that was motivated by thinking about what could go in an office — in a space more accessible for business applications — and then, the home eventually,” Raibert said onstage.
Spot Mini is a small robot that can easily suffice in your office or home. It weighs about 25 kg (30 kg including arms) and can go for about 90 mins in a single charge (depends on the usage). It is a quiet robot, with the mobility of Spot (full-size version) and 5 degrees of freedom arm. With navigation and mobile manipulation by in-depth cameras and sensors, it is ready to do all the daily tasks effectively.
“We have begun field testing the Spot robot for commercial usage around the world. After an initial mapping run, Spot autonomously navigated two dynamic construction sites in Tokyo and used a specialized payload for surveying work progress,” Boston Dynamics says. “An additional camera in its hand lets Spot do even more detailed inspection work on site. The Spot robot will be available in the second half of 2019 for a variety of applications.” Let’s see how he does it!
Spot mini will be the first robot Boston Dynamics will commercialize after 26 years. They are planning to build 100 Spot Minis in the next year and 1000 in the subsequent years.
During the closing note at Robotics summit, Raibert mentioned that it is hard to keep track of Boston Dynamics’ long and short-term goals simultaneously. The long-term goal is solving “the hard problems in robotics, leading to major new functionality.”
The new robodog will come in packages, for example, if you need to work it as a security guard you can add extra cameras. It will be like one of those customizable laptops where you can extend the RAM or get a better webcam, to suit your needs.
After showing Atlas doing backflips and Spot inspecting a construction site, the latest video showed a fun side of this robot, grooving on uptown funk. We like robots, but seeing a robot party, it will surely create a fuss about the robots. It is considered to be the company’s most commercially oriented robot and they are placing their bets on it. Although the pricing is yet to be revealed. Have a look!
Robots can be extensively used in places where there is a risk for human lives. We can send them to mines, workplaces and other construction sites. At home, they can be used for our daily chores and can work diligently at offices as well.
Boston Dynamics recently perfected weight shifting (Atlas), they worked really hard to make the robot as realistic as possible. It can deal with odd shaped objects and maintain its balance, sometimes even efficiently like a human could.
What’s in the future?
Robotics is in a constant flux, evolving and growing at a steady pace. With the arrival of 5G, we can see a lot of potential in the coming years. Robots can be a way of life in the next decade.
Robots can enter into public security, it would not be a surprise if you see a robot instead of a person as a security guard. With the arrival of drones, motion surveillance is possible. They can enter our education sector and teach students, help us at home and can also become our co-workers. There can be autonomous cars and robots in healthcare industries too.
By 2020, you can expect microbots, exoskeletons, body-machine interfaces, modular robots, intelligent robots, robotic strength, alternately powered robots, robotic networks, telepresence robots, etc present in the world for us to witness.
These dexterous and nimble robots have already successfully secured a place in our hearts. Now the phrase, you work like a robot may get offensive (kidding)! From robotic pets to robotic insects, we are there already.
Robotics will definitely gain momentum in the coming years, it will be a sight to see the transformation happening around you. We already are a part of a generation that can actually see the technology metamorphosis happening up close and we at Decode are here to record its every turn. Stay tuned to know more!
