Boston Dynamics has put one more video up to showcase the capabilities of its robot dog SpotMini. This time the video shows the collective strength of 10 SpotMinis marching with militaristic precision while pulling a truck.
Yes, you heard that right, a bunch of robot dogs pulling a truck that likely weighs at least 10,000 pounds. An individual SpotMini can carry around 31 (14 kg) pounds of payload and weighs 66 pounds (approx 30 kg).
The robot dogs when tagged together, as shown in the video, contains enough collective power to pull a vehicle weighing over 10,000 pounds with ease on a slightly inclined path.
Softbank owned Boston Dynamics has been working on robotic technology since a while and has shown a lot of advancements in recent years. Now, it looks like the company has fully developed its robot dog and is all set to make them available to its potential customers.
The video captions “These Spot robots are coming off the production line now and will be available for a range of applications soon.”
Company’s founder Marc Raibert disclosed last year at the CeBIT Computer expo that they have been testing SpotMini with potential customers from four industries- delivery, home assistance, security, and construction. Raibert said that one day the robot dog could be used in conditions where humans are at risk such as the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster site.
Raibert has finally unveiled the production version of SpotMini at a recent TechCrunch-hosted startup showcase where he claimed that the company will produce about 100 of the robots this year.
According to TechCrunch, the production version of the robot dog packs “redesigned components to make it more reliable, skins that work better to protect the robot if it falls and two sets of cameras on the front and one on each side and the back, so it can see in all directions.”
At the conference, he referred SpotMini as the “Android of robots” as he envisions coders writing their own codes to give the dog new functionalities and capabilities. He thinks that the production version of the robot dog won’t be limited to the capabilities it ships with.
SpotMini is the quietest robot the company has ever built and can fit in an office or home comfortably. It’s an all-electric machine capable of performing some tasks autonomously but it needs “high-level-guidance” from its human owners. Depending on what it’s doing, the robot can go for about 90 minutes on a single charge.
The robot can pick up and handle objects using its 5 degree-of-freedom arm and perception sensors. Other sensors on the robot help with navigation and mobile manipulation. The sensor suite includes stereo cameras, depth cameras, an IMU, and position/force sensors in the limbs. It has 17 joints and is 2 feet 9 inches (0.84 m) in height.
Boston Dynamics is set to reveal SpotMini’s pricing details this summer.
