Spot the Robot Dog Trots Into the Big, Bad World (wired.com) 22
Boston Dynamics' creation is starting to sniff out its role in the workforce: as a helpful canine that still sometimes needs you to hold its paw. From a report: This autumn, after years of dropping view-amassing videos of Spot the robot dog fending off stick-wielding humans and opening doors for its pals, Boston Dynamics finally announced that the machine was hitting the market -- for a select few early adopters, at least. BD's people would be the first to tell you that they don't fully know what the hypnotically agile robot will be best at. Things like patrolling job sites, sure. But Spot is so different than robots that have come before it that company execs are, in part, relying on customers to demonstrate how the machine might actually be useful.
After a few months on the job, Spot is beginning to show how it'll fit in the workforce. BD's researchers have kept close tabs on the 75 or so Spots now working at places like construction companies and mining outfits. (Oh, and one's with MythBuster Adam Savage for the next year.) They're seeing hints of a new kind of cooperation between humans and machines, and even machines and other machines. Starting today, you can even customize Spot to your liking -- the software development kit is now publicly available on GitHub. The robot is not included, though.
After a few months on the job, Spot is beginning to show how it'll fit in the workforce. BD's researchers have kept close tabs on the 75 or so Spots now working at places like construction companies and mining outfits. (Oh, and one's with MythBuster Adam Savage for the next year.) They're seeing hints of a new kind of cooperation between humans and machines, and even machines and other machines. Starting today, you can even customize Spot to your liking -- the software development kit is now publicly available on GitHub. The robot is not included, though.
Sure, but... (Score:4, Funny)
...is he a good boy?
Maybe they could protect postmen against real dogs (Score:2)
Seriously, I could imagine Spot being developed for personal protection in public
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I imagine a world where people do not need "personal protection" in public space.
Or any space.
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I imagine a world where people do not need "personal protection" in public space. Or any space.
John Lennon would be proud
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Can we 10x this? (Score:2)
I've always loved the concept. What I'd really like to see, though, is a larger version of this (SpotMaxi?) that is strong enough to carry an average-sized person.
Imagine the ultimate wheelchair that doesn't care about steps, loose gravel, sand, or any other obstacles (within reason), and just lets you "walk" wherever you want to go.
Imagine a guerney that can carry someone to an ambulance across any terrain.
Imagine a robot horse that can navigate CA SR-85 during rush hour, leaping from car to car.
Well, ma
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>Imagine a robot horse that can navigate CA SR-85 during rush hour, leaping from car to car.
The novel Snowcrash already had that idea. It involved firing a magnetic grappling tether at passing cars, while riding on roller skates with predictive shock absorbers.
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Re: Can we 10x this? (Score:1)
But if you had a car with those squishy, fat tires, and paid to drive on the private road, you didn't have to worry about poons.
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I've always loved the concept. What I'd really like to see, though, is a larger version of this (SpotMaxi?) that is strong enough to carry an average-sized person.
Then immediately work on a version built to handle the above average size person. As someone that's above the 99th percentile in height and above the 95h percentile in weight I find many things in this world not built to fit me. Also, think of the people most in need of something like this. There's going to be people with Type 2 diabetes, meaning they put on a few extra pounds. There's pregnant women that will be advised to stay off their feet for their health. There's injured athletes that aren't exac
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Sure. But the other half are elderly, and are mostly shrinking, rather than getting bigger, as they age. For
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You're better off starting small and working your way up
Is that not what I suggested? Sure, build one to carry the average sized person, then immediately work on one for the above average sized person.
I'm reminded of a humorous response by a mayor when asked about women firefighters in the city's fire department. He said he didn't care much about women fighting fires, so long as the person fighting fires was able to carry a 200 pound mayor from a burning building. I have a similar thought, this is great technology so long as it can carry a 220+ pound me. If
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I would argue that a product could be wildly successful even if it only worked for 25% of people, if it works so much better for that 25% that they buy it in droves. That said, at some point, someone else is likely to start making a product that works for the other 75%, and growth would star
It's a bit creepy looking (Score:2)
It looks like something out of Aeon Flux.
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Half Life 2 Combine Hunter [fandom.com]
Target acquired (Score:2)
So um, how easy do you think it will be to steal one of the demo Spots?
Senior Care (Score:4, Interesting)
Many senior citizens could stay in their homes for years longer than they do if they had a minimal amount of assistance, someone to help them out of bed or the chair, remind them of their meds and maybe bring them with some water, fetch the phone or remote control, check their vital signs, maybe some light house cleaning, and call for assistance when needed. Home health aides are expensive and can only stop by for a couple of hours a week (and burnout is horrendous in that field.)
A number of companies are working on humanoid robots for this function, which I think is a mistake. People will expect something that looks like a human to be fairly human-like in its capabilities, and robots are nowhere near that. No one expects human-like capability from a dog though, even a dog-like robot.
Pets, even robotic ones, have been demonstrated to ease the sense of isolation and loneliness experienced by most seniors and relieve depression associated with those feelings. Loneliness and depression have serious effects on overall health and shorten lifespan considerably. Dress Spot in a dog suit and even if you charge $100,000/year for its services insurance companies will be lined up around the block to keep from having to pay for nursing homes.
Finally (Score:2)
Put a laser beam on its head and senior citizens can say, "Get off my lawn! Or else."
More giant insect than dog (Score:4, Interesting)
Take our pollution (Score:1)
In "Fahrenheit 451", six-legged robots were best at assassinating at people holding forbidden information. The movie Equilibrium (2002) has a similar story-point.
We need robots to take our pollution from the highways and oceans but no-one wants to pay for that so Capitalism isn't providing it.
dissapointing (Score:2)
Why are they not talking about entertainment or general purpose home robots? Why not release a robot like the one in that Black Mirror episode? I am guessing one reason is that whoever makes such decisions there is risk averse and overly skeptical about new commercial products. They aren't even selling these. Just leasing them. Maybe they don't think they can build them cheaply enough to sell to the consumer market. I guess they can't outsource the construction to China because they will just copy the desig