Robot dogs can unload the dishwasher, deliver packages to your home and open door and they use their thin metallic legs to traverse stairs or crawl straight into your worst nightmares
Now Boston Dynamics awkward, four-legged, dog-like robot, SpotMini, is evolving from a viral YouTube sensation to a purchasable pet of sorts. The company is already testing SpotMini with potential customers from four separate industries: security, delivery, construction and home assistance.
Battery life and low noise functioning
This robot will be available next year. The company has built ten by hand, they are building 100 with manufacturers at the end of this year and in the middle of 2019, they’re going to begin production at the rate of about 1,000 a year. The company did not revealed the cost of SpotMini nor responded to any request for a comment.
The robotics company says the 66-pound machine is two feet, nine inches tall and remains the quietest robot the company has ever built. It’s electric, has 17 joints and can run for 90 minutes on a single charge. The machine which can haul a 30-pound payload – relies on a variety of sensors to navigate the outside world and has the ability to handle objects using an arm that vaguely resembles an ostrich’s neck.
Varied applications
The company has designed this robot to be small enough so that it could fit inside of an office or a factory or a warehouse, or even someday a home. A larger version of the robot – known as Spot, through a video shows the machine running at fairly high speeds and regaining its balance after sustaining a human’s kick. Some viewers appear to find the company’s robot videos inspiring, but others consider them a terrifying, apocalyptic warning about the rise of intelligent machines.
SpotMini can be used to traverse a rugged construction site or working as a nimble caretaker for the elderly, performing all of the functions that one expects from service dogs. What makes a robot like SpotMini so special, is that it’s capable of moving across landscapes that remain off-limits for wheeled robots.
