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Four-Legged Robots Seen Scanning for Something on Ford Factory Floor

With four legs, the ability to climb stairs and right itself after it falls, and with a price tag to match that of a Porsche, Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot is certainly a sight to behold. And be ready to become a common sight as well, after the company that makes it opened the order books in mid-June.
Boston Dynamics Spot on Ford factory floor 10 photos
Photo: Ford
Spot robot on Ford factory floorSpot robot on Ford factory floorSpot robot on Ford factory floorSpot robot on Ford factory floorSpot robot on Ford factory floorSpot robot on Ford factory floorSpot robot on Ford factory floorSpot robot on Ford factory floorSpot robot on Ford factory floor
We’ve seen Spot quite a number of times before, performing tasks that are chill-inducing for some, and eye candy for others: it was seen towing, in a pack of 10, a delivery truck, but also herding sheep on a hillside, so it was about time it got to do what it was really meant for: scan for ways to rid itself of us.

Of course, the robot is not officially doing that, but is “helping engineers update the original computer-aided design” for the upcoming retooling of the Ford Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Michigan. Not one, but two of them have been leased from Boston Dynamic to help the Blue Oval’s plans.

Nicknamed Fluffy and Spot, the two are walked on all fours around the plant, moving their five 360-degree cameras around for hours at a time, looking for the best way for the carmaker to utilize space at the facility.

Creeping along at a speed of up to 3 mph (4.8 kph), the robots are for now controlled from up to 50 meters away by a human operator, but the carmaker is eyeing the possibility of giving even more autonomy to the robots.

Ford took this approach for its plans with the facility because using Spot robots is both faster and cheaper than the method used until recently: it involved teams moving about the plant with a tripod and stopping at various points for measurements, and cost the carmaker around $300,000 for each facility.

Ford does not say directly which variant of the Spot it employs. There are three variants of the Spot available, and the base is the Explorer, priced at $74,500. There are two others for use by enterprises and academic, but the prices for these were not announced.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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