Google-owned bot maker Boston Dynamics has added another leggy member to its family of fearsome robotic quadrupeds. This one’s called Spot, and its special talent is a killer sense of balance. Even as Boston Dynamics employees repeatedly kick the robot, it manages to stay standing. For walking robots that are expected to tackle rough terrain, or strong wind gusts, the ability to keep from keeling over is an attractive quality. The 160-pound robot can jog along with its minder, and clamber up a slope and down with the grace of a mountain goat.
As is customary for the Waltham bot maker, Spot was introduced to the world via a YouTube video — just as humanoid Atlas, the galloping cheetah robot, Big Dog, and Little Dog each debuted. And the Internet responded with a collective shudder.“It feels so wrong when they kick it,” YouTube commenter Gabriel Perren wrote in response to the…
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