29.03.2024

Boston Dynamics is still making creepy robots under SoftBank

Boston Dynamics is back with yet another freaky robot to haunt your nightmares.

The company released a short video today (Nov. 13) showing off the latest version of SpotMini, the small, vaguely dog-shaped robot it’s been working on for a few years. The new version is the most compact yet, with all the sensors the robot uses to experience the world housed in what might be considered its “face” and “body.” Those sensors used to live at the bottom of the robot’s creepy grabber arm.

The new SpotMini moves with an eerie lifelikeness as it trundles around a corner in the short clip. Unlike most other videos Boston Dynamics has released of its robots, this one doesn’t show a human kicking, tripping, or otherwise maiming the bot. (Hopefully this will put us on better terms with the bots when the robot revolution arrives.)

In June, Google sold Boston Dynamics to Japan’s SoftBank for an undisclosed amount. The sale came about in part because of the reputation Boston Dynamics had developed for making robots that were too creepy for the general public.

Not much is known about what the firm has been up to since then, and the company wasn’t immediately available to comment on its plans for SpotMini. Boston Dynamics founder and CEO Marc Raibert said at a recent conference that he believes “robotics will be bigger than the internet.”

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