Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Good dog!

Well, alrighty then: those madcap folks at Google parent company Alphabet’s subsidiary Boston Dynamics have given us a robotic dog that can clean your house and bring you a beer.


You may recall the robot dogs marketed by Sony back at the turn of the century. The Aibo had an AI component that enabled it to learn at least as well as your average Labrador puppy. The company discontinued the “breed” about ten years ago, and stopped product support and repairs in 2014.


Boston Dynamic’s SpotMini is smaller than its elder brothers, and while not as cute as Aibo, it’s not without a certain charm. Perhaps it’s the hand-puppet maw of the arm that performs various tasks. You’ll want to watch this video all the way to the end, even beyond the copyright notice.


No idea what the cost might be. But one question you might want to ask is: is it housebroken, or will it leave little batteries all over the place?