"Watch a Boston Dynamics robot herd sheep in New Zealand" engadget

"In addition to herding sheep, Spot robots might also harvest crops, inspect yields or create real-time maps, Rocos says. These capabilities are all possible now that Spot is more nimble, can handle rugged terrain and can carry infrared and LiDAR cameras. Rocos hopes to use its tech to remotely design and edit missions and collect sensor data. In other words, users might be able to herd sheep in New Zealand from anywhere in the world.

Spot is constantly learning new tricks. Mostly recently, Boston Dynamics trained the four-legged robot to help triage COVID-19 patients. We’ve also seen Spot navigate an office, hold the door for a friend, pull a rickshaw and haul a box truck. While we haven’t seen it ourselves, police in Massachusetts are reportedly testing Spot as a "mobile remote observation device.”"  engadget

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Woof!  pl

https://www.engadget.com/boston-dynamics-spot-robots-herd-sheep-135533533.html

Comments

[Terence Gore]

HMMMMMMM!!

"The mechanical Hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in a dark corner of the fire house. The dim light of one in the morning, the moonlight from the open sky framed through the great window, touched here and there on the brass and copper and the steel of the faintly trembling beast. Light flickered on bits of ruby glass and on sensitive capillary hairs in the nylon-brushed nostrils of the creature that quivered gently, its eight legs spidered under it on rubber padded paws.
Nights when things got dull, which was every night, the men slid down the brass poles, and set the ticking combinations of the olfactory system of the hound and let loose rats in the fire house areaway. Three seconds later the game was done, the rat caught half across the areaway, gripped in gentle paws while a four-inch hollow steel needle plunged down from the proboscis of the hound to inject massive jolts of morphine or procaine."

Fahrenheit 451

[Fred]

"testing Spot as a "mobile remote observation device.”" engadget"

Does it work in hostile environments, say the moon, Mars, a marsh, close to that still Buddy Bear's cousin has up on the mountaintop?

"police intended to lease the hardware."
I forsee all kinds of corporate liability in that arrangement, but nice cash flow from the government in the meantime. I wonder who is going to review that contract before it is approved?

[walrus]

Someone said that on the battlefield, these things will move so fast they will simply be a blur before they kill you.

Imagine an intelligent swarm of these stacking a town or fortified position.

[walrus]

The first thing we now need is readily available armor piercing rounds for a .22 and up and shotguns.

[Fred]

Walrus,

if they are intelligent we can use them to replace the Broward County Sheriff's deputies who are assigned to defend schools. The last one of note only managed to defend his pension.

[Jay Meltesen]

How long do they stay charged and how long to charge them? Cost of charging facilities in the back of beyond? See the thing in proximity to the sheep but no real herding. Just the thing for over funded police operations as long as the gravy train lasts.

[turcopolier]

jay meltesen

90 minutes on one battery. Battery packs are easily changed. A power source is the problem with all these BD robots unless they can operate plugged in like warehouse sorters. What do you think? Is the world really flat?

[Jack]

Enforcing social distancing in Singapore.

https://twitter.com/johnbanksblog/status/1261878364966715392?s=21

While there are many useful and valuable use cases, authoritarians will also find it useful.

[Leith]

There are no wolves, bears, coyotes, Aussie dingoes, or other non-human predators in Kiwi-Land for 'Spot' to worry about. Unlike Wyoming et al.

But can 'Spot' fend off two-legged stock thieves? Rustlers never went out of business after the end of open range and the Johnson County War. Today they do it with semi-trailer cattle trucks and sell the critters in states without brand inspectors.

[Linda]

Love the first comment Hmmm beautiful!

[Barbara Ann B.Eng.]

The embedded YouTube video asked me to tick a box - to confirm "I'm not a robot" and got me to solve a picture puzzle* before I could watch.. a robot. The fact that this irony was entirely lost on the omnipotent & soulless Google, who has the audacity to question my humanity, made me smile.

*A quirk of my exotic internet connection

To complete the pastoral scene: A flock of Philip K Dick's electric sheep, an android shepherd and the hillside carpeted in AstroTurf. The quintessential 21st century rural idyll will be flawlessly reproduced pixel by pixel by an AI algorithm, perhaps named "Constable".

And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

[Rob Waddell]

All..
The Boston Dynamics model in the video is (my guess) only second or third generation 'doggy'. There would be hundreds of applications for these robots; thinking S&R, mining, space exploration, nuclear power plants and other dangerous manufacturing areas. One can only imaging what generation 4, 5 and upwards would look like; micro, mini, maxi?

Power supplies, strength and other perceived frailties would be sorted out as sales increase just like, well .. aircraft.

Applications in agriculture would be immense, even aiding the border collie 'seeing eye' dog. Might be a bit more difficult emulating the Huntaway though.

For a much darker version of robotic dogs, check out 'Black Mirror -2/2/ -Metalhead'. Trailer in link but entire episode should be available Netfix or similar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrKO5ZYMe-0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntaway

Cheers .. Rob

[BillWade]

Hydrogen fuel cells for power will get longer times and quicker charging.

[The Twisted Genius]

This generation of robots is a lot less creepy than the earlier versions, almost cute. I'd like to see how they perform in briar patches and swampy ground. They would be great to assist in search and rescue with a full set of sensors.

On the military side, they remind of the Russian mine dogs used against German tanks. Kamikaze versions could search out built up areas and tunnels and blow up when they find the target. Hope their sensors and AI can distinguish enemy troops from refugees. They also remind me of the mechanical mules. The Marines were still using them to carry their 106 recoilless rifles in Hawaii when I was there. We thought we were oh so superior because our recoilless rifles were jeep mounted. You can still buy these mules. There's even one available with a recoilless rifle.

https://www.mechanicalmulesofamerica.com/index.html

[Mark Logan]

Jack,

Check out War of the Worlds on Epix. Same basic story as the original but besides moving it to France they have modified the story with alien mechanical dogs doing the alien's dirty work. Very frightening.

Only four episodes in but so far I rate it "not too shabby".

[Terence Gore]

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/matt-gaetz-urges-william-barr-to-ground-chinese-made-drones-over-possible-data-transmission-to-china

https://audioboom.com/posts/7587312-absolutely-we-are-in-a-cold-war-with-china-jedbabbin-washingtontimes

drone wars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=72&v=CmhHKvmyma4&feature=emb_logo

Matt Gaetz as the young Obi Wan