Boston Dynamics expands Spot robot product line
The company has sold over 400 robots
Boston Dynamics added three new products to its agile mobile robot Spot to better allow for the data collection on remote or hazardous worksites.
The robotics design company is launching a self-charging Enterprise Spot, web-based remote operations software called Scout, and the Spot Arm. All three are said to enhance the robot's ability to automatically perform "remote inspections and data collection as well as manual tasks," the company said in a Tuesday announcement.
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Since launching Spot a little over a year ago, Boston Dynamics has worked to offer "a way to automate data capture and get eyes on worksites that have complex terrain," CEO Robert Playter said in a YouTube video.
To date, the company has sold more than 400 robots which are being utilized for "a variety of applications" from construction sites and underground mines to offshore rigs.
The new line of products is supposed to allow customers to "fully operationalize continuous, autonomous data collection on remote or hazardous worksites of any size, from anywhere they have access to their network," Boston Dynamics said.
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The company's Spot Enterprise can support "long, remote deployments," the company said. This version of Spot is equipped with self-charging capabilities and a dock, which allows it to "perform longer inspection tasks and data collection missions with little to no human interaction."
Boston Dynamics’ web-based software Scout gives customers the ability to control their fleet from a virtual control room while they "inspect critical equipment or hazardous areas from afar."
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With the Spot Arm, users can enable the robot to perform physical work. The arm can manually or semi-autonomously grasp, lift, carry, place, drag and manipulate a variety of objects. It can also open and close valves, pull levers and turn handles and knobs.
Playter said the company has been working to make sure the robot supports the customer's mission.
"Our customers want reliable data collection in remote, hazardous, and dynamic worksites," he said. "We developed the new Spot products with these needs in mind, and with the goal of making it easy to regularly and remotely perform critical inspections, improving safety and operations.”
*The original story version, published 2-2-21, has been clarified to reflect the additions are products vs. new models.