Elon Musk put someone in a Spandex suit to dance on a stage during AI Day. Supposedly, that was to demonstrate what the next big thing for Tesla would be. In the end, it just got people asking whether he was mocking Tesla or the people who believed in that promise. A remarkable silence from robotics companies followed until Boston Dynamics decided to make fun of the situation – even if trying to make it look like it didn’t.
In its latest video about Spot, the company created a dancing session not wanting to entertain investors but rather for a more practical and noble goal. When the video starts, Murray (the technician) tries to interact with the four-legged robot in many situations as if it was a sentient being.
Perhaps trying to avoid any association with what Musk did, the video presents the worker watching one of the videos made by Boston Dynamics in which its robots also dance. That reminds us that Musk may have tried to mock the robotics company with the Spandex person to start with. After all, Boston Dynamics made these videos to demonstrate how its robots could perform complex movements.
The bottom line is that Murray is convinced Spot can dance. The robotics company shows all resources the robot has – such as detecting thermal anomalies and reading analog gauges – while the technician tries to feed the robot with bolts and nuts or invite it to dance.
When they meet in a stairway, the robot finally does what Murray expects – not because they are just dogs in Spandex suits, mind you. The plot twist is that Spot controllers give Murray what he wants so that he can go back to fixing the issues the robot detected in the factory.
Spot can be used in multiple tasks. Boston Dynamics mentions monitoring critical equipment in factories, inspecting tunnels in mining companies, checking oil and gas installations, and even as a device for police forces. The last time we heard about its price, the robot cost $74,500. Boston Dynamics now invites people just to contact its sales department on its website to learn more about that.
Thanks to this video, we now know Spot can also make fun of competitors that do not even exist in an elegant way.
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