Tag: Boston Dynamics

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Watch Boston Dynamics’ Atlas fling a tool kit at a ‘construction site’

Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics showed off their Atlas humanoid robots in action back in 2021. Back then, the robots were tasked with navigating a space of plywood panels, gaps, and beams, essentially performing parkour.

Now, the company has released another video titled “Atlas Gets a Grip” that shows the humanoid robot in a construction workplace scenario.

In the video, a construction worker is standing on top of construction beams, but realizes they forgot their toolbox underneath. Atlas springs into action swiftly, sets a way for it to climb up the beams, and tosses the toolbox toward the construction worker. In essence, the video shows Atlas’ ability to manipulate the world around it to suit its task and interact with objects to reach its goal, “pushing the limits of locomotion, sensing, and athleticism.”

The video also serves as a test and display of the robot’s capacity to keep its balance in different scenarios, which will ultimately help the company perfect the robots over time and reach levels of human dexterity.

According to a separate video where Boston Dynamics explains how its robots can interact with objects and the environment and how it develops new Atlas behaviours, Scott Kuindersma, the team leader behind Atlas said the new video is meant to “communicate an expansion of the research we’re doing on Atlas.”

“We’re not just thinking about how to make the robot move dynamically through its environment, like we did in Parkour and Dance,” said Kuindersma. “Now, we’re starting to put Atlas to work and think about how the robot should be able to perceive and manipulate objects in its environment.”

This is a display of the robot’s capabilities, and with further development, it shouldn’t be long before such robots can perform real, physically demanding jobs that might be unsafe for humans.

Elsewhere, Elon Musk believes his company’s Tesla Bot will soon eliminate the need for humans to do physical work. Musk sees the humanoid robot rolling out widely over the next decade, and says it’s positioned to replace humans doing dangerous, repetitive or boring work, including tasks like cooking, mowing lawns, and caring for the elderly.

Image credit: Boston Dynamics

Source: @BostonDynamics

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Spot the AI dog assisting with mine safety inspections in BC

Is there anything Boston Dynamics’ robo-dog can’t do?

Spot, an AI robot that stands on four “limbs” and weighs as much as a Labrador retriever, has worked with a construction team in Toronto, helped COVID-19 patients, and guarded the ruins of Pompeii.

Now, Spot is supporting Teck’s mining operations in Elk Valley, B.C., through safety inspections and data collection.

The four-legged sensor device works through areas that are unsafe for most to access. Spot’s work with Teck will allow the company to computerize its inspections and frequently collect safe and accurate data.

Users can add various tools to Spot, including a robotic arm that can open a round door handle, a high-resolution camera, and more.

Image credit: Teck

Source: Teck

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Boston Dynamics’ Spot has a new patrolling job at the remains of Pompeii

After helping COVID-19 patients, doing late-night security patrols in factories and joining a Toronto construction team, Boston Dynamics’ Spot robo-dog is now being tested to serve as a security guard for the ruins of Pompeii.

Pompeii, an ancient city in Italy came down crumbling during the Mount Vesuvius eruption in AD 79, which saw the city getting buried under ash. Routine excavations were common in the remains up until 1960, after which, only small-scale excavations have taken place. The area is full of historic relics, and it goes without saying that bad actors want their hands on pieces of history and treasures.

Now, Boston Dynamics is deploying Spot the robo-dog to patrol the area, analyze and collect 3D terrain data and roam through underground tunnels dug by relic thieves to hunt them down (not literally, though that would be cool).

The 3D terrain data will then be used by archeologists to study the remains and analyze any structural changes that take place without human intervention, allowing our knowledge about the area to expand, without archeologists having to regularly visit the site.

“These experiments form part of the broader Smart@POMPEI project of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, which aspires to an intelligent, sustainable and inclusive management of the Park, which makes use of an integrated technological solution, rendering Pompeii a Smart Archaeological Park,” reads the Archaeological Park of Pompeii’s release about the addition of Spot.

Read more about how Spot is making patrolling the remains of Pompeii safer for humans here.

Image credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii

Source: Archaeological Park of Pompeii

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Boston Dynamic’s robot dog Spot hides inside a present

Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics shared a ‘Happy Holiday’ message on Twitter featuring its dog-like ‘Spot’ robot crawling around inside of a present.

As The Verge points out, the clip has a striking similarity to Metal Gear’s Solid Snake disguising himself with a cardboard box and crawling around the jungle.

That’s about it for the short clip. It opens on a large present, then the present stands up and walks off frame, revealing a ‘Happy Holidays’ message.

While some may be concerned about the idea of Spot hiding in a box and sneaking up on people, it’s worth noting that the box would significantly hamper Spot’s sensors. In other words, Spot likely wouldn’t be able to navigate while wearing the box since it can’t detect what’s around it.

Instead, someone would need to control it remotely, making this less of a spooky Skynet scenario with robots disguising themselves as presents to ambush people and more of an over-the-top prank.

This is the latest stop of Spot’s world-spanning journies, which previously saw it pick up dancing, join the French army, patrol a Hyundai-owned Kia manufacturing plant in South Korea and even join a Toronto construction job.

Source: Boston Dynamics Via: The Verge

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Boston Dynamics’ robodog ‘Spot’ joins Toronto construction team

Construction companies PCL and Pomerleau Construction are teaming up with Intel, Microsoft and internet-of-thing (IoT) company Latium to bring innovation to construction in Canada. To start, the two construction companies and three tech companies brought Boston Dynamics’ ‘Spot’ robot dog to Cadillac Fairview’s 160 Front Street project in Toronto.

Spot first appeared on a Pomerlau site in Montreal back in 2019, and now PCL will send it to a couple of job sites to further study how Spot can help improve workflows.

While on job sites, Spot will sport several add-on technologies, all of which feed data into Latium’s ‘Job Site Insights’ smart construction platform. For example, Spot will have 360-degree cameras, a Leica RTC360 laser scanner, Latium’s environmental air quality sensors, GPS sensors and more.

Additionally, Latium enabled Spot’s data to be aggregated and displayed “on a single pane of glass,” which appears to mean tablets judging by the below video. That allows job site personnel to view real-time information and quickly respond to changing job site conditions and events. There’s a strong safety aspect too, with Spot able to get into dangerous or hard-to-reach spaces.

The Spot tests could lead construction companies to invest in robotics and other technology to help modernize job sites, improve worker safety and more.

Previously, Spot was deployed to monitor factories in South Korea and also saw a stint in the French army.

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Boston Dynamics’ Spot ditches French army to inspect factories

With the thrill of the hunt wearing thin, Boston Dynamics’ ‘Spot’ robot has left the French army to become a factory safety inspector.

According to a press release from Hyundai, the company is testing Spot at a Kia manufacturing plant in South Korea. Spot will roam the factory looking for potential risks to help improve on-site safety. Engadget points out that this marks the first public collaboration between Hyundai and Boston Dynamics since the automaker acquired a majority stake in the robotics company earlier this year.

Hyundai also put out a YouTube video showing Spot in action. Attentive users may notice the robot looks a little different in Hyundai’s video – that’s because it’s sporting a special backpack. The backpack adds several enhancements to Spot, including a thermal camera, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and an ‘AI Processing Service Unit’ with extra resources for handling more intense artificial intelligence processing.

The service unit allows Spot to detect people, monitor temperatures and check for fire hazards. It can also detect dangers and send alarms to managers.

Additionally, Hyundai says operators can remote-control the robot through a secure website with a live stream, which will allow office personnel to observe industrial areas remotely.

The test program will help Hyundai assess Spot’s efficacy. To start, the robot will support late-night security patrols. Hyundai indicates that if testing goes well, it could expand the robot’s patrol areas and consider additional deployments at other industrial sites.

Image credit: Hyundai

Source: Hyundai Via: Engadget