Boston Dynamics’ Robot Dog Spot Can Now Get Through Closed Doors All By Itself

Finally, although Boston Dynamics has previously demonstrated Spot using an articulated arm and hand accessory to open doors, it’s a feature that’s been dependent on a human operator using a remote control to manipulate the arm. This has meant that for Spot to patrol a facility autonomously, it either still needs a human operator monitoring its progress to assist with doors remotely, or for those doors to be intentionally left open, which isn’t always an option. Boston Dynamics will soon be equipping Spots across the globe with the articulated arm accessory to open and navigate doors all by themselves, although it’s initially being introduced as a beta feature while the robot still learns to master that particular skill.

Spot’s ability to monitor temperatures using thermal cameras is also being improved, including notifications when equipment is getting too hot or too cold past a preset range, as well as acoustic imaging using a sound-monitoring payload that can automatically detect invisible air and gas leaks in systems that operate under high pressure. Spot can’t take action when a problem arises, but it can help detect issues early on through regular maintenance patrols, allowing small problems to be addressed before they become catastrophic ones.

Although Spot is designed to be a 24-hour replacement for human inspectors, in many situations, the robot is still operating alongside humans doing other jobs, so Boston Dynamics has introduced a new audio and visual warning system to help make its presence known, and to make it easier to understand what the robot’s doing.