Boston Dynamics has made some absolutely terrifying robots over the years, but the SpotMini is not scary at all. It’s like a cute robotic dog, which makes Boston Dynamics’ longstanding tradition of abuse against robots suddenly not funny.
The SpotMini is undeniably impressive in a lot of ways. The video above shows it navigating through a house, ducking under tables, putting away dishes and throwing out recycling, and generally just being a good robodog. Well, aside from this:
It’s also fully electric and, depending on the job that you’re having it do, can last up to 90 minutes. The electric motors mean it’s a very quiet robot too, and there’s something adorable about its skittery nature and desire to help. So that makes this all the more cruel:
Granted, having the robot slip on a banana peel is being used to demonstrate the little guy’s ability to get back up again (and prove you’re never going to knock him down), but come on, people! He just wants to help us, and this is how we treat him? Maybe those Terminators have a point after all.
It’s not clear just when we might have SpotMinis running around our homes, but this robot is clearly designed for domestic use and will probably be coming to market sooner rather than later. But maybe leave out the floor-humping, guys. That probably isn’t a feature we need.
(Via YouTube)
