Oh my word.

It’s called SpotMini, has four-legs, a trunk, a long reaching claw for a head, and can open doors. With the claw.

It’s also apparently very well-mannered.

The latest creation from leading robotics company, Boston Dynamics, footage showing off SpotMini’s latest impressive set of capabilities was shared on Monday, reports The Guardian:

The video depicts a SpotMini, a four-legged yellow machine that stands about a metre high, flummoxed by a closed door before a second robot of the same type, equipped with a fifth limb extending from its back, arrives to save the day. The second bot turns the handle, pulls the door open and holds it for the first to walk through, then follows.

The actions may sound prosaic, but small touches betray the complexity of the programming. After the second SpotMini pulls the door slightly ajar, it hooks one foot behind it, holding it open while it moves to the side to provide more room to swing it the whole way. When the first SpotMini arrives at the door, the robot – which has no neck but an array of sensors placed where its shoulders would be – leans back to peer at the doorhandle in a movement more fitting for a kennel than a robotics firm.

If this doesn’t make you a little worried for the future of humanity then I applaud your trust:

Terrifying? A little.

Kind of reminds me of that robodog from the Black Mirror episode “Metalhead”, and that’s terrifying.

Of course, this isn’t Boston Dynamics’ first robodog endeavour.

Previously owned by Google before it put the non-profitable business up for sale in 2016, the company, now owned by Japan’s Softbank, created BigDog a while back:

SpotMini is a miniaturised version of the robot that Boston Dynamics built its name on: BigDog, a robotic pack-horse originally designed for the US army.

That avenue of commerce was shut down in 2015 when the military rejected the machine, complaining it was too noisy.

“As marines were using it, there was the challenge of seeing the potential possibility because of the limitations of the robot itself,” a spokesman for the US marine said at the time. “They took it as it was: a loud robot that’s going to give away their position.”

Before you know it, you’re going to own a robodog named Spot which, without training, will use its claw head to get you a beer from the fridge.

Classic.

[source:telegraph&theguardian]