Remember the now Softbank-owned Boston Dynamics’ SpotMini? The nightmare-inducing robotic dog designed for home and office environments? Of course you do. Who can forget that creepy thing, right? Well, apparently, it has got an update and we are glad to say that the new SpotMini is now a lot less creepy than when we first saw it. For starter, it appears to be ‘clothed’ in some sort of fairings in bright yellow which makes it look less apocalyptic than the previous iteration and the rest of its siblings. As the teaser video suggests, it is now without the creepy extendable head that would allow this abomination to do chores other than happily hopping around.
So, I guess, it is no more than guard dog now. Then again, the video is not a representation of the entire setup. Who knows? Boston Dynamics may still have the skeletal-looking head that will allow it to do daily chores like throwing trash? I mean, this is just a teaser, so there could be more to it. In any case, since it is now Softbank-owned, it will be no surprise that the Japanese telecommunication company would want to milk Boston Dynamics’ developments. After all, the company is already peddling the humanoid robot called Pepper in Japan and so, I am not even a bit surprise a full-size robotic dog is in the pipeline to, you know, start pulling in real money for the organization.
Up to the point before Softbank ownership, it appears that Boston Dynamics is just developing with no real goal and also, up until SpotMini, it feels like the robotic company is developing with military in mind. However, with Softbank, that may have changed, or at least, now consumers appear to be part of the equation. The fact that the team bothers to ‘dress up’ this mechanical creature is an obvious hint that it is going mainstream. Anywho, skip ahead for the said teaser.
Images: YouTube.
via Digital Trends.
