Have you ever seen that creepy Boston dynamics video of the bipedal robot carrying loads, maneuvering over objects, or righting itself after being kicked over? Well guess what. Apparently you will be able to purchase your own electro-mechanical K9, though the only thing it shares in common is four legs. Skynet is upon us people!
Boston Dynamics’ robots keep getting smarter — and soon they’ll be available for purchase.
At a TechCrunch robotics event on Friday, Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert announced its robotic dog SpotMini is currently in “pre-production.” The company will start selling the robots in 2019.
It’s unclear who will be able to buy them, and the cost has not yet been revealed.
“SpotMini is in pre-production now,” Raibert said. “We’ve built 10 units [of] a design that’s close to [what] a manufacture will design. We’ve built them in house but with help from contractor/manufacture type people.”
The dog-like SpotMini robot climbs up and down stairs. The first version of the SpotMini walked, rolled over and even put objects in a dishwasher. Last year, it was revamped and can now walk by itself using autonomous navigation. Earlier this year, Boston Dynamics released a video showing the SpotMini opening a door for another robot.
The SpotMini robot
At Amazon’s robotic conference earlier this year, CEO Jeff Bezos posted a photo of him walking with one of the Boston Dynamics robot dogs.
