Boston Dynamics is expanding its range of robot dogs with a model that can charge itself. Spot Enterprise comes with a charging station that allows the robot to recharge its batteries without the help of humans. As such, it can work longer in remote or dangerous areas.
Spot Enterprise has upgraded hardware that strengthens security and communication, the company said. The robot can autonomously perform actions over a larger area than the previous model and operators can quickly extract large data sets from it. Boston Dynamics says it has expanded Spot Enterprise’s WiFi support and increased the flexibility of the robot’s payload ports.
Together with Spot Enterprise, Boston Dynamics announced a browser-based system called Scout that allows users to control Spot remotely. It allows people to manually control the robot or perform pre-programmed autonomous actions with a simple user interface.
The company also announced Spot Arm, a robotic arm that can grip, lift, carry, place and drag a range of objects manually or semi-autonomously. The arm can help Spot to open and close valves, turn handles and knobs, and pull handles, allowing it to open doors. The robot can also be equipped with a thermal imaging payload with 30x optical zoom.
Boston Dynamics says it has sold more than 400 Spot Explorers since it opened commercial sales in June. While it only sells the robots to businesses for now, it plans to make Spot available for home use one day.