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Oct 1, 2019

Boston Dynamics Begins Selling ‘Spot’ Robot

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

For years, Boston Dynamics’ only commercial product has been vaguely unsettling videos of robots moving in realistic ways. That changes today. No, the robots aren’t getting less creepy. Boston Dynamics has a real commercial product: Spot. This quadrupedal robot is shipping out to select companies, but it could expand to general sales eventually.

We’ve seen Spot (originally known as SpotMini) show up in various video demonstrations. You’ve seen it twerk, and now you might see it work. Boston Dynamics isn’t entirely certain what sort of work Spot will do, but that’s why it’s starting with a limited sales program. It wants to work closely with early adopters to evaluate Spot’s usefulness in the real world.

As part of the launch, Boston Dynamics has posted a video (below) demonstrating the robot’s features. Spot can walk at 3 miles per hour and has an average runtime of 90 minutes. When the battery runs dry, operators can swap in a new battery to get the robot up and running again immediately. It can even operate outside in temperatures ranging from −4 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (−20 to 45 degrees Celsius). It’s IP54 rated, so it can walk around in the rain, but don’t steer Spot into a lake.

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