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Boston Dynamics Introduces SpotMini, Potentially Your Future Pet

Boston Dynamics, the company whose sole purpose on this planet seems to be to remind us that Skynet is real and the Terminators will rise one day, has just released its take on the family's Golden Retriever.
Boston Dynamics SpotMini 6 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot
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Don't be so quick to rule having one of these around the house. Sure, it looks creepy as hell, but once you get used to it and your child's shrink sessions had been paid for, you might use it to your advantage. For example, imagine the stupid face a burglar would make after throwing the chicken leg at the dog thinking they were in the clear, and how fast they would run once they realized what they were up against.

And there are other advantages as well. Sure, you can train your Labrador to fetch things from your fridge (beer, we mean beer), but that either takes lots of time if you're inclined to do it yourself, or lots of cash if you're willing to let somebody else take care of it. With SpotMini, all you need to do is program it once and you'll never watch the game with a dry mouth or miss one second of it going to the fridge.

That's because this new SpotMini is missing one very important component: its head. The previous build shown by Boston Dynamics had a Brachiosaurus-styled articulated long neck with a grabbing device at the end. The dog could be seen playing tug, grabbing a wine glass without breaking it, and fetching the beer we were talking about.

The new teaser only shows us SpotMini's moving abilities, but we're promised more. With the company switching hands from Google to Softbank, it's worth noting a very important change: the robots do not come naked anymore. Boston Dynamics is finally taking the time to manufacture plastic covers for their bodies, making them look a lot more finished and a lot less scary. Who knows, if you saw this the day our dog peed on the carpet, you might even consider adopting one.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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