Next-Level Robotic Inspection is Here! Spot Levels Up
June 7, 2023
Boston Dynamics announces brand new features and hardware for Spot, an industry standard for dangerous and routine autonomous inspections.
Improved Inspection Workflows
Critical industrial tasks like thermal monitoring, acoustic leak detection, and gauge reading are made easier through our automated inspection solutions.
- Thermal Inspection: Capture multiple regions of interest in a single photo. View and compare temperatures across the photo in data review and set alerts for temperature differences between up to three regions of interest.
- Gauge Reading: Inspect analog gauges across your site, monitor trends through Scout, and trigger alerts on abnormal readings with a gauge reading computer vision add-on provided by our partner Levatas.
- Acoustic Imaging: Trigger acoustic inspection actions that provide alerts on abnormal noise readings with a Fluke SV600 payload.
- Scout User Improvements: Our remote operation software Scout now features new permissions sets and a dashboard to review your robots’ progress. For all inspection types, you can now edit mission and action parameters later in Scout, without needing to re-record a mission.
Human-Oriented Hardware
Redesigned hardware and new robot behaviors reshape how Spot interacts with your team on the ground.
- Audio Visual System: Spot comes with new hardware, pre-configured with light patterns and tones that will alert workers that the robot is performing actions in the area.
- Emergency Stop: Physical e-stop button added to the back of the robot, in addition to the existing quick stop options on the tablet and in Scout.
- Slippery Floor Enhancements: Spot’s improved gaits make the robot more stable on slippery surfaces such as wet floors.
- Moving Object Detection: The robot can now detect moving objects such as people or forklifts when a Spot EAP 2 payload is attached. When the robot identifies a moving object in its path, it will signal, keep a safe distance, and exercise increased caution as it continues on its mission.
Beginning of Autonomous Manipulation
Robots should be able to grasp and move things in the physical world the same way people can. In this release, the Spot Arm can now open doors autonomously during Autowalk missions. Although this is still a beta feature, it will open up new inspection routes and allow Spot to move from room to room on its own, even in a completely empty facility.
The Future of Robotics
It’s one thing to build a cool robot, but it’s another thing entirely to make a robot that’s useful in the real world. The collaboration and feedback you provide as you put Spot to work on a daily basis makes it possible for us to do both. Their hope is these enhancements will improve our human-robot interactions on sites around the world, supporting the longer-term journey toward general-purpose robots.
With your ongoing support, Boston Dynamics will develop a new generation of robots and solutions that make our lives safer, easier, and more productive.
Watch the announcement
More Information
Related Story
Student Summit to Feature the ‘Manufacturing Technology Classroom of the Future’ at IMTS 2022
The Smartforce Student Summit will be held at IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show, Sept. 12-17, at McCormick Place in Chicago. Produced by the Smartforce Development team of AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, which owns and operates IMTS, the Student Summit brings together students from elementary school through college, scout troops, robotics and STEM clubs, home-schooled students, and educators of all levels to explore the latest Industry 4.0 digital technologies driving manufacturing today.
