Robot maker Boston
Dynamics has decided to put its four-legged robot Spot on sale. The company
spent a lot of time developing this robot and even leased it to businesses last
year to see how well it was performing. After conducting tests, Boston Dynamics
says that it is ready for sale and will be available to any US firm for $74,500.

Source: Boston Dynamics

Now the price is quite
high and almost equals that of a luxury Tesla Model S. However, according to
the company, the robot Spot is equipped with the latest technology and can
carry out tasks like any other human being.

Even though the
advancement of the robot has been proved through tests, right now Spot is being
used to collect surveys and conduct data analysis. When the company carried out
trials, we saw that Spot could create 3D maps of construction sites and detect
machine faults in offshore oil rigs. It could also help hospitals triage
COVID-19 patients and more importantly, it is also working with a police bomb
squad.

Source: Boston Dynamics

Boston Dynamics states that Spot is a multipurpose “mobility platform” so
companies can install their own sensors and programs to make it efficient.

“We mostly sell the
robot to industrial and commercial customers who have a sensor they want to
take somewhere they don’t want a person to go,” Boston Dynamics’ lead robotics
engineer, Zack Jackowski, told The Verge last week. “Usually because it’s
dangerous or because they need to do it so often that it would drive someone
mad. Like carrying a camera around a factory 40 times a day and taking the same
pictures each time.”

The engineers will take
feedback from the customers after the robot is used by them to see which part
requires an update. The feature that is recently being worked on by Boston
Dynamics is remote teleoperation. The company is providing a demo version to
all potential clients so they can take a test drive and see why it is an
essential part of the system.

Boston Dynamics’ vice
president of business development, Michael Perry, told The Verge, “some of the
customers we’re speaking to are in the ‘shut up and take my money’ mode. But
others say, ‘I’m interested in Spot, but I want to come to your lab and drive a
robot or for you to come visit me.’” This is why teleportation is on Boston
Dynamics’ agenda.

Source: Boston Dynamics

However, just like with
any other robotic system, Spot also comes with the danger of being misused for
firearms and terrorism. Questions were raised about the robot’s 3D feature and
what if the printer is used by organizations to create bombs. “If there’s a
harmful use, then the license would be invalidated, and the customer wouldn’t
be able to use the robot,” says Perry. “But obviously, there’s not a lot that
we can do ahead of time beyond validating that the purchase is valid and that
the person buying the robot is not on the Department of Commerce watch list or
anything along those lines.”

Perry also says that
the company might consider selling Spot to security firms or any other
organization that deals with arms but they need to be thorough about the use.
“So long as the robot’s not being used to harm or intimidate people,” he
says.“If you want to buy more than two robots, our team wants to talk to you
because we want to understand what you want to do with the robot.”