- Robotics company Boston Dynamics announced that it’s robot dog, Spot, is now for commercial sale in the US.
- The robot will retail for $74,500, with a lead time of 6-8 weeks.
- Spot has already been used in hospitals, agriculture, and police work.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Spot, Boston Dynamics’ famous four-legged robot, is now officially available to purchase. For $74,500, Spot is ready for use by “developers eager to explore how flexible mobile robots can be adapted for tasks ranging from industrial inspection to entertainment.”
For now, Spot is only available to US customers, and they can expect orders to be fulfilled in six to eight weeks after a $1,000 deposit. The company suggests several uses for the dog-like robot: “Inspect dangerous, inaccessible, and remote environments, Automate data collection on your site, Carry payloads on unstructured or unknown terrain.”
Previously, companies used Spot as part of the“Early Adopter Program,” which meant they could lease the robot under certain conditions. If customers violated the agreement, Boston Dynamics could reclaim the robot and end the relationship. Now, interested customers can buy Spot directly.
Here are a few things Spot has already done.
Boston area hospitals started reaching out to Boston Dynamics in early March asking for robots that could help minimize staff exposure to COVID-19.
Source: Business Insider
To work with COVID-19 patients at a Boston hospital, Spot robots were equipped with iPads and two-way radios.
Using this setup, doctors could talk to patients and evaluate their symptoms from afar, without having to put themselves at risk of exposure.
Boston Dynamics said that for every shift completed by a robot, at least one healthcare worker can decrease their exposure to coronavirus.
Boston Dynamics has been working on ways for Spot to measure body temperature, respiratory rate, pulse rate, and oxygen saturation.
In New Zealand, Boston Dynamics' Spot partnered with another company, Rocos, to herd sheep and collect agricultural data.
Source: Business Insider
Rocos said that its software will make Spot more useful on remote missions, and make the data collected by Spot more useful and accessible for remote teams.
Rocos predicts that these tools could be useful in agriculture, making food production more efficient, yielding more accurate estimates, and easing the strain of worker shortages.
In a Singapore park, Spot was used to encourage social distancing because of COVID-19.
Source: Business Insider
Spot walked around the park with a speaker telling people to stay at least one meter apart, and scanning for estimates of crowd sizes.
Boston Dynamics already partnered with some construction companies to use Spot.
Source: Robotics Business Review
On construction sites, Spot can walk through and capture 360 degree images of progress.
Massachusetts State Police used a Spot robot for several months in 2019.
Source: Business Insider
Videos showed Spot opening doors and engaging in surveillance. According to the lease agreement, the robot was only used by the Bomb Squad.
