The Expensive Yellow Dog

Boston Dynamics has been conducting some of the most public robotics research in the world as of the last few years. Im sure many recognize this 4-legged walking robot dog from videos on things like twitter and such, but its actually the real deal. For a mere $75,000, you can be the next owner of the Boston Dynamics Spot Robot Dog.

The company has recently delved into more commercial and private based researched involving robotics. Previously, most robotics research was done for private and military companies, without a lot of applicable use for smaller businesses and private homes, but Boston Dynamics hopes to change that, with Spot the dog being their first project in the space.

The technology this simple dog aims to develop are in the realm of motion and stability for moving robots. The dog has been designed to walk on surfaces of all types, slopes, and roughness. It can walk up a hill, over a pile of rocks, through a re-bar filled surface, all without getting tripped up, and rather quickly too. With this, we move towards a time where challenging or dangerous tasks that humans used to perform can now be done be robots that used to be otherwise impossible. Wheel and track based robotic systems didn’t give these older robots much mobility, making robotic solutions expensive and not very successful. Now however, I believe a whole new era of robotics has opened up, and im excited to see where it goes.

 

Source: https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/boston-dynamics-spot-robot-dog-now-available

8 thoughts on “The Expensive Yellow Dog

  1. I think that the use of robots, as intelligent as Spot, in space could open more doors to opportunities of deep space exploration. Using robots can help us go into deep space where humans could never possibly explore in due to extreme far distance. Even beyond space exploration, using robots can be be beneficial for several things here on earth like deep sea exploration or possibly even help fight forest fires. It would be interesting to see what we could accomplish on earth with robots.

  2. It is hard to image that live with robots. Although there are some manufactures can work without people, but robots in that manufactures not like the real robots in movie. Sometimes, I think the movie can be true, and we can work with that kind of robot. However, I don’t realize that we are closer to this thought.

    I have heard Boston Dynamics before. There was some news like that their robots “run away” from the lab or the video to show their strange robots. Now, they started to sell their robots.

    The new robot “dog” is called by Spot. “Spot is not a house pet or a toy for entertainment, it’s a four-legged robot that can walk up to three miles per hour, climb terrain, avoid obstacles, see 360-degrees and perform a number of programmed tasks.”(Stieg, 2020)

    Spot is a good way for people to work in some unsafe place. Spot can instead of people to work in these unsafe place. And people just control it remotely (Stieg, 2020).

    Link:https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/22/75000-boston-dynamics-robot-dog-for-sale-take-a-look.html

  3. I think these kinds of robots can be used in specific industries and play a huge role, but I don’t think they are needed in daily life. Of course, most people would not pay $7500 for the “yellow dog” just to go for a walk or do something in their daily lives. I think those robots should be widely invented and used in rescue operations, such as the earthquake. The blog mentions that the robots can walk on all kinds of ground, which means they can reach places that humans can not. They can also cross narrow terrain or go underground to check for signs of life. I also saw the problem with the combat dogs the other day. If these kinds of yellow dogs can replace the combat dogs, There would not have been so many dogs injured or dead. Through a video of the Boston Dynamics robot dog, “the robot can’t be kicked over. Even on an icy, slippery parking lot, Spot scrambles to remain on its feet after being shoved”. So I think they can perform their duties very well.

    My source: https://www.iflscience.com/technology/meet-spot-newest-dog-robot-boston-dynamics/

  4. Its crazy just how close we are to having robots in our daily lives. Movies have always made it seem like robots were something that were decades away from being implemented. But Boston Dynamics has shown just how close we are. They released a video on the SPOT, the robot spoken about, and some of the things it does are crazy. It has 360 degree camera detection so it can navigate terrain and avoid crashes. It can also carry 14kg while keeping the same speed. While it is extremely expensive, that always happens with new technology, I believe that over time the cost will become more reasonable so more companies will be using them in the future.

    Sources:
    https://www.bostondynamics.com/spot

  5. I think that the new Boston Dynamics Spot robot is a very important creation and I think that its creation will soon be used in many different ways. According to the Boston Dynamics website, “Spot is an agile mobile robot that navigates the terrain with unprecedented mobility, allowing you to automate routine inspection tasks and data capture safely, accurately, and frequently.” So far, I have only seen the Boston Dynamics Spot robot on Youtube with Adam Savage using it as a rickshaw carriage. More recently, a content creation group that I am a big fan of ‘OfflineTV’ purchased the Spot dog for $100,000 to use as an investment for content creation.

    After researching the Spot robot, I saw researchers using the dog to explore old mines. I think that it will be able to play a large role in underground exploration in areas that cannot be easily accessible by humans. Last year, it was announced that Japan is using robots to explore the nuclear reactors that exploded to see how bad the damage was. The Boston Dynamics dog could be great here and offer solutions to long-lasting problems that humans cannot solve

    Source: https://www.cnet.com/features/for-fukushimas-nuclear-disaster-robots-offer-a-sliver-of-hope/

  6. I think that the new Boston Dynamics Spot robot is a very important creation and I think that its creation will soon be used in many different ways. According to the Boston Dynamics website, “Spot is an agile mobile robot that navigates the terrain with unprecedented mobility, allowing you to automate routine inspection tasks and data capture safely, accurately, and frequently.” So far, I have only seen the Boston Dynamics Spot robot on Youtube with Adam Savage using it as a rickshaw carriage. More recently, a content creation group that I am a big fan of ‘OfflineTV’ purchased the Spot dog for $100,000 to use as an investment for content creation.

    After researching the Spot robot, I saw researchers using the dog to explore old mines. I think that it will be able to play a large role in underground exploration in areas that cannot be easily accessible by humans. Last year, it was announced that Japan is using robots to explore the nuclear reactors that exploded to see how bad the damage was. The Boston Dynamics dog could be great here and offer solutions to long-lasting problems that humans cannot solve

    Source: https://www.cnet.com/features/for-fukushimas-nuclear-disaster-robots-offer-a-sliver-of-hope/

  7. I think a robot like this would be very beneficial for a number of different groups/organizations. Having a robot that is able to go into places that a human typically cannot venture too is immensly helpful in order to conclude different research. I also agree with the idea that these robots would be very useful in being able to eprform dangerous tasks that a human should not risk doing. This would be very helpful because things would get done more efficiently and far more safe than if a human were to perform said task.

    The Spot Robot Dog going to space is also a very interesting concept because people have sent robots like devices to space before but never one like this. I predict that this robot will help gather copious amounts of information being in space/helping with any projects that Spot the dog are needed for. I am very excited to see where this type of technology takes us/if it really will help advance our knowledge on a number of things.

  8. This is really interesting. I am fascinated by the development of robotics, and I always watch the new Boston Dynamics videos when they are released. I have always seen them as something that even though we have existent at the moment, looks like it will only be normal in the far future. News like these show that we are getting closer to that future. According to an article by The Verge, the robot is still under development and new software features will be deployed for it, but a final version is released and can be bought. I wonder what are the business applications for a robot like this, but I’m sure it could be useful for different kinds of businesses like construction for example. These dogs can go pretty much anywhere a human can, so maybe instead of using humans to perform dangerous tasks, the robots can take the risks and lives can be saved.

    Source: https://www.theverge.com/21292684/boston-dynamics-spot-robot-on-sale-price

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