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Short Science: Meet Spot

  Bitter Staff /   February 10, 2015 /   SciTech /   Leave a Comment

This is Spot.

Spot is the latest of Boston Dynamics’ creepily awesome robots.

Unlike their earlier behemoths, including Big Dog:

and Petman:

Spot is not gigantic, weighing in at a svelte 160 pounds. Spot is also designed for indoor work. We do not quite know why. Most of Boston Dynamics’ robots have had, shall we say, an overt militaristic vibe. ‘Course, that was when they got most of their funding from DARPA. Perhaps there have been changes made to the emphasis of the company since they were purchased by Google last year?

However, as much as we love Spot, we have to admit our ongoing favorite from Boston Dynamics is RHex.

RHex is only thirty pounds and can climb a mountain. On both its back and its tummy.

Oh well – we might not have gotten hoverboards, but we may be right on the edge of Terminator. You win some, you lose some.

[Via IEEE Spectrum]

Filed Under: SciTech Tagged With: Big Dog, Boston Dynamics, Petman, RHex, robots, Spot, Terminator

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