Chances are, you know Spot. It’s the latest version of the dog-like robot made by Boston Dynamics that’s been making headlines for the better part of the last 10 years after making this slightly creepy video debut:
From those shaky, hill-climbing origins, and after several revisions and a lot of kicks, we now have the bot known as Spot, or SpotMini. Not only is Spot capable of autonomous navigation and opening doors despite a lot of human interference, but now Spot is ready to get a job.
According to Wired, Boston Dynamics is readying the launch of commercial packages for Spot so that this robot dog can carry out tasks like security, or even construction, as evidenced by the video below.
In the video, Spot makes its way through a vertical construction site in Japan, navigating stairs, pallets of material, loose beams, doorways and more.
According to Boston Dynamics’ description of the video, what we’re seeing is Spot autonomously navigating two Tokyo construction sites. It’s carrying a payload that allows it to survey work progress while an additional camera in the robot’s “hand” allows it to perform detailed inspection tasks.
Boston Dynamics says the SpotMini commercial models will be available starting in the second half of 2019.
