The engineers over at Boston Dynamics have been hard at work lately on robots that can emulate natural movement and have environmental awareness. The result: a robot dog that can not only respond to walls and obstacles, but can now even climb a staircase with ease!
For the record, scientists have claimed to have made robots that can climb stairs for years, but have had very limited success. I mean, just look at Honda’s Asimo back in 2010…
But, according to this video, the project from Boston Dynamics, titled the SpotMini, is a giant leap in the evolution of intelligent robots.
Although right now the robot dog is only intended for use in commercial buildings and office spaces, they hope to have a model for private homes on the market by 2019.
The thing is, if you look past the initial cool factor of having a robot dog with realistic movements, I don’t really get the appeal of having a 55-pound metal machine wandering around your house all the time. I feel like this is one of those things people would want just because it’s possible and they can afford it.
But what do you guys think? You can check out a full article from Mashable.com here. Is this gonna be the new must-have next year?
AC
