Boston Dynamics' SpotMini Is All Electric, Agile, and Has A Capable Face-Arm (ieee.org) 36
An anonymous reader writes: Boston Dynamics has shown the world their "fun-sizeified version of their Spot quadruped," the SpotMini robot. It's a quiet, all electric machine that features a googley-eyed face-arm. IEEE Spectrum notes some observations made from watching their YouTube video. First of all, the SpotMini appears to be waterproof and doesn't rely on hydraulics like the other more powerful robots of theirs. The SpotMini is likely operated by a human, and is not autonomous, though the self-righting could be an autonomous behavior. The video appears to show two separate versions of the SpotMini: an undressed and dressed variant (it's hard to tell if the "dressed" variant features differing components/abilities). There is a MultiSense S7 video camera on the front, some other camera-based vision system on the front, a butt-mounted Velodyne VLP-16 system, and what may be a small camera on the face-arm's mouth. One particularly noteworthy observation is that during much of the video, the SpotMini is traversing through a house. In other Boston Dynamics demo videos, the robots are outside. The author of the report says, "[...] it wouldn't surprise me if we're looking at an attempt to make an (relatively) affordable robot that can do practical things for people who aren't in the military."
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hipsters (Score:5, Funny)
Why was this built? (Score:1)
but now that the company is part of Google, maybe the reason is just âoebecause we can, and itâ(TM)s cool.â
Not exactly hacker behavior is it?
As Butt-head might say (Score:2, Funny)
Err ... what?
Re: (Score:2)
Oh come now, it has a "butt-mounted Velodyne VLP-16 system". What's not to understand?
pupeteer (Score:1)
I think it needs a second neck. With both necks starting from a more shoulder like joint.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Be careful of that single rear leg though, they can deliver quite the kick.
Nightmare fuel (Score:2)
OK... I know what I'm having nightmares about tonight.
Just the use of the word "face-arm" was creepy and should have been a hint, but I went ahead and watched it dance for a few minutes to let it really sink in.
(Joking aside, that looks like a crazy fun project to work on!)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Forget Fleshlight - time for sexbots (Score:2)
OK... I know what I'm having nightmares about tonight.
Just the use of the word "face-arm" was creepy and should have been a hint, but I went ahead and watched it dance for a few minutes to let it really sink in.
(Joking aside, that looks like a crazy fun project to work on!)
That video was disturbing - in a few ways - for me.
DFENS (Score:5, Funny)
I will sleep soundly tonight knowing that our new robotic dog overlords can be foiled by a simple banana peel on the floor. =p
Re: (Score:2)
It's ok kids, the bad robot can't get to us. We just waxed the floor.
Re: (Score:2)
Is noone terrified of these? Cyberdyne? (Score:2)
It's seriously like Alien and Terminator all rolled up into one :)
I can only imagine these being combined with weaponry and used against enemy-combatants/protestors/inconvenients more effectively than a SWAT team in about 5-10 years.
What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Boston Dynamics' SpotMini Is All Electric, Agile, and Has A Capable Face-Arm
You know what one word would've made that headline 20x clearer?
"Robot."
Re: (Score:3)
It's Boston Dynamics, what else would they be working on?
Re: (Score:2)
Do you instantly recall what every company that gets mentioned in a Slashdot headline does?
Maybe you do. But not everyone does.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
EXACTLY. If you're on Slashdot and you don't know who Boston Dynamic is, you shouldn't be here. ;-)
Or at least be able to use Google to find out...
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Errrr..... ending the world?
Re: (Score:2)
Too many legs and not enough hands, plus someone suggested that 7 hours before you.