Spot collects waste during a demonstration of its new arm capabilities.
Screenshot of Boston Dynamics video by Amanda Kooser / CNET
She dance. She explore mines. She help medical workers. Boston Dynamics Spot robot dogs are constantly learning new tricks, and they now have a whole host of new moves thanks to a robotic arm and new programming interface.
Boston Dynamics released a video on Monday showing what Spot can do with its robotic arm system. The arm is mounted on the front of the robot and is capable of a number of fine motor operations, such as digging a hole for a plant and making chalk drawings.
“Now that Spot has an arm in addition to legs and cameras, he can manipulate mobile devices,” said Boston Dynamics. “It finds and picks up objects (garbage), tidies up the living room, opens doors, operates switches and valves, tends to the garden and generally has fun.”
Each new Spot video adds to the robot’s impressive overview of skills. Perhaps the most eye-catching footage is three Spots playing skipping rope with the robots at both ends turning the rope in perfect sync with each other.
The basic Spot robot is available with optional add-ons including a tablet controller and a lidar system. The Spot Arm video is a taste of what could come with Boston Dynamics’ launch of an expanded Spot product line on February 2. You can watch the live stream of the reveal event starting Tuesday at 8 a.m.PT.
The company promises it will “increase Spot’s value for autonomous inspection and data collection.”
Don’t be surprised to see more Spots in the wild. After years of development and testing, Spot finally went on sale mid-2020 for $ 74,500. Yes, that’s a lot, but did you know the rope can jump?
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