Spot on launch

[williamcll]

Boston dynamics' spot robot has launched and now shipping to early adopters, however I cannot find a price for this so I am guessing it is still under lease. 

Quote

Boston Dynamics is announcing this morning that Spot, its versatile quadruped robot, is now for sale. The machine’s animal-like behavior regularly electrifies crowds at tech conferences, and like other Boston Dynamics’ robots, Spot is a YouTube sensation whose videos amass millions of views.

 

Now anyone interested in buying a Spot—or a pack of them—can go to the company’s website and submit an order form. But don’t pull out your credit card just yet. Spot may cost as much as a luxury car, and it is not really available to consumers. The initial sales, described as an “early adopter program,” is targeting businesses. Boston Dynamics wants to find customers in select industries and help them deploy Spots in real-world scenarios.

“What we’re doing is the productization of Spot,” Boston Dynamics CEO Marc Raibert tells IEEE Spectrum. “It’s really a milestone for us going from robots that work in the lab to these that are hardened for work out in the field.”

 

Boston Dynamics has always been a secretive company, but last month, in preparation for launching Spot, it allowed our photographers into its headquarters in Waltham, Mass., for a special shoot. In that session, we captured Spot and also Atlas—the company’s highly dynamic humanoid—in action, walking, climbing, and jumping.

 

If you’re interested in one, you should go to Boston Dynamics’ website and take a look at the information the company requires from potential buyers. Again, the focus is on businesses. Boston Dynamics says it wants to get Spots out to initial customers that “either have a compelling use case or a development team that we believe can do something really interesting with the robot,” says VP of business development Michael Perry. “Just because of the scarcity of the robots that we have, we’re going to have to be selective about which partners we start working together with.”

 

Boston Dynamics would not give us specific details about pricing, saying only that potential customers should contact them for a quote and that there is going to be a leasing option. It’s understandable: As with any expensive and complex product, prices can vary on a case by case basis and depend on factors such as configuration, availability, level of support, and so forth. When we pressed the company for at least an approximate base price, Perry answered: “Our general guidance is that the total cost of the early adopter program lease will be less than the price of a car—but how nice a car will depend on the number of Spots leased and how long the customer will be leasing the robot.”

Additionally, they have also released another video for their bipedal robot, atlas. 

 

Thoughts: This is one small step for developers, one giant step for robotkind. I can tell that a lot of people in labour jobs could be our of work in the coming years just as in the industrial revolution. 

 

 

 

Source:

https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/boston-dynamics-spot-robot-dog-goes-on-sale.amp.html

https://www.wired.com/story/spot-boston-dynamics/

https://www.bostondynamics.com/spot

[star_pilot475]

2 minutes ago, williamcll said:

I can tell that a lot of people in labour jobs could be our of work

not just out of work...

[TVwazhere]

Finally I can combine my love for dogs and robots!

[elfensky]

I am just really curious what real world uses spot has. Given the price and the (small) payload capacity of 2 14kg, I'm just not seeing the cost-benefit, especially given the "use-cases" in the video. 

You want a robotic guard dog to walk the perimiter? laser fences and 24/7 cameras will do the job better for far cheaper. 

You want it to transport goods? I mean sure, rushing ammo-packs on to soldiers in a field would work, but we're talking civilian applications here. And using a multi-thousand robot used to transport a single brick per trip, are you fucking kidding me? (okay, maybe a few bricks given it's 14kg, but still)

And for like 99% of terrain, a minituarized tank-like vehicle (threads) will be far cheaper to produce, more stable and be able to carry much, much more. I mean, they themselves even have a bigger one to transport soldier' equipment etc. 

I just can't think of any reasonable use-cases for the thing within the civilian sector. 
 

[williamcll]

7 minutes ago, ElfenSky said:

I am just really curious what real world uses spot has. Given the price and the (small) payload capacity of 2kg, I'm just not seeing the cost-benefit, especially given the "use-cases" in the video. 

You want a robotic guard dog to walk the perimiter? laser fences and 24/7 cameras will do the job better for far cheaper. 

You want it to transport goods? I mean sure, rushing ammo-packs on to soldiers in a field would work, but we're talking civilian applications here. And using a multi-thousand robot used to transport a single brick per trip, are you fucking kidding me?

And for like 99% of terrain, a minituarized tank-like vehicle (threads) will be far cheaper to produce, more stable and be able to carry much, much more. I mean, they themselves even have a bigger one to transport soldier' equipment etc. 

I just can't think of any reasonable use-cases for the thing within the civilian sector. 
 

Most of the videos were showing field inspection such as a construction site or a factory.

[The King of the Undead]

Just now, VegetableStu said:

let's be real, if that actually happened, the guy would have a crushed pelvis ._.

how do we know he didn't?

[porina]

10 minutes ago, ElfenSky said:

I just can't think of any reasonable use-cases for the thing within the civilian sector. 

Give it a cute furry exterior and you have an Aibo successor.

[elfensky]

9 minutes ago, williamcll said:

Most of the videos were showing field inspection such as a construction site or a factory.

But that's the thing, specifically for construction there are already companies that do it with dedicated software and hardware available and ready to be deployed. 

Meanwhile, if one were to use spot for it, they'd need to start from basically scratch, and ain't no1 got time fo dat. 

Example #1 

 

Example #2

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

19 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Finally I can combine my love for dogs and robots!

Look no further

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K9_(Doctor_Who)

[Orangeator]

I see the biggest use case of this specific robot (Spot) being for the military. Troops who take massive hikes on the battlefield who need to carry a crazy amount of gear. That is the most effective use of Spot in my opinion... Also, the military is one of the few entities that have the kind of funding to purchase these kind of luxuries haha.

[ThePD]

When Elonn Musk was afraid of AI taking over, this was why.

[BuckGup]

It's cool but what are some practical applications?

[Sauron]

43 minutes ago, ElfenSky said:

I just can't think of any reasonable use-cases for the thing within the civilian sector.

Possibly automating the transport of *something* in homes with staircases. e.g. food/medicine for people who have mobility problems and can't (or would rather not) have a relative or nurse at home all day. It's probably too expensive for that to make sense right now but in a couple of iterations I could see that being a thing.

 

Other than that, maybe search operations in woods or rocky terrain where live dogs would need more guidance and resting time?

29 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

I see the biggest use case of this specific robot (Spot) being for the military. Troops who take massive hikes on the battlefield who need to carry a crazy amount of gear. That is the most effective use of Spot in my opinion... Also, the military is one of the few entities that have the kind of funding to purchase these kind of luxuries haha.

It can't carry enough weight for that to be viable. Plus I'd imagine that marching at full load would significantly lower its battery life.

[Orangeator]

8 minutes ago, Sauron said:

It can't carry enough weight for that to be viable. Plus I'd imagine that marching at full load would significantly lower its battery life.

Yeah, I meant more of a concept, if it could carry that kind of weight, and have a multi-day battery life... It would be an awesome application for technology like this.

[Sauron]

13 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

Yeah, I meant more of a concept, if it could carry that kind of weight, and have a multi-day battery life... It would be an awesome application for technology like this.

You could also just use trucks, not a lot of modern day battles are fought on terrain so rough that military vehicles can't thread it. Besides I'm not a fan of the military in general so I honestly hope they can't find a use for this.

[pas008]

only viable use i could see is for tv stations help carry gear for field reporting etc

or same with photographers

maybe mail carrier or small parts runner  in huge companies

 

but if they get out there i'm sure things will only improve like payload and batterylife

[pas008]

3 minutes ago, Sauron said:

You could also just use trucks, not a lot of modern day battles are fought on terrain so rough that military vehicles can't thread it. Besides I'm not a fan of the military in general so I honestly hope they can't find a use for this.

why not a sentry gun? tunnel rat?

Afghan mountains and caves and many other places

[Sauron]

11 minutes ago, pas008 said:

why not a sentry gun?

Guns are heavy and the recoil would either knock it over or force it to step back. Accuracy would be abysmal.

13 minutes ago, pas008 said:

tunnel rat?

There already are smaller and cheaper wheeled robots that do that perfectly well.

[Orangeator]

23 minutes ago, Sauron said:

You could also just use trucks, not a lot of modern day battles are fought on terrain so rough that military vehicles can't thread it. Besides I'm not a fan of the military in general so I honestly hope they can't find a use for this.

Okay, but just because you don't like the current military does not mean they couldn't find a practical application for this new technology. Plus, even if you don't like the military... You should still be excited to see what the funding from government contracts could do for this space of robotics.

[Tristerin]

I love this thing, gets people all mad and up in arms when you fuck with it, as if it has an actual existence. 

 

 

[SansVarnic]

I can see practical uses in the Physical Security industry.

[pas008]

16 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Guns are heavy and the recoil would either knock it over or force it to step back. Accuracy would be abysmal.

There already are smaller and cheaper wheeled robots that do that perfectly well.

30lbs can hold a gun and much ammo

wheeled cant climb rock terrain all that great at decent speed

and if this thing can balance it should be able to handle recoil, people said same crap about small drones, but most small drones are loud an practically requires an operators complete attention in remote areas

[Sauron]

7 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

Plus, even if you don't like the military... You should still be excited to see what the funding from government contracts could do for this space of robotics.

When did the military become the only possible target for government spending? Regardless, the field of robotics has been doing just fine through civilian investment. Turns out this stuff is pretty useful to a lot of people, though perhaps not spot specifically - but if its only use case is to be a weapon then I'm fine with it not existing.

[Sauron]

5 minutes ago, pas008 said:

wheeled cant climb rock terrain all that great at decent speed

Neither can this, speed isn't exactly its strong suit.

5 minutes ago, pas008 said:

and if this thing can balance it should be able to handle recoil

It may not fall over but that doesn't mean it can hold a steady aim while firing. It definitely can't handle the recoil and move on rocky terrain, which would be its only advantage over existing mobile turrets that pack a lot more firepower than a rifle (or, more realistically, a handgun), have a much higher resistance to gun fire and cost a lot less.

[Orangeator]

14 minutes ago, Sauron said:

When did the military become the only possible target for government spending? Regardless, the field of robotics has been doing just fine through civilian investment. Turns out this stuff is pretty useful to a lot of people, though perhaps not spot specifically - but if its only use case is to be a weapon then I'm fine with it not existing.

Okay... First off, not talking about a weapon. I was talking about taking the load off of current soldiers, aka "less suffering" if you want to look at it from a utilitarian perspective. Seconds, I said military because in the contemporary political world, the military has one of the largest budgets to finance research technology like this. Also, just because civilian investment is doing "just fine" doesn't mean it cannot be improved by spending military budget on researching a technology to benefit mass populations outside of the military use case. Which I would argue is a better use of the military budget then spending it on weaponry... Etc. From a utilitarian perspective that would be the best use of those resources.