Robo-Dog Followed Me Home, Can I Keep It?

On The Riley & Scot Show, we often discuss dogs. Our favorites are the hero dog stories, service dogs and how they improve the lives of so many, and of course, the occasional goofy canine tale.

One type of dog that we've spent little to no time discussing is...the robotic dog.

However, with ongoing technological leaps, it appears the robo-dog will almost certainly be a part of our future discussions.

Google-owned Boston Dynamics garnered a lot of attention recently with a release of a video detailing their "Big Dog," a quadruped robotic dog-like creation. Now, they've released the above footage of "Spot," a smaller version of the "Big Dog."

From Mashable:

The 160-pound, four-legged Spot is remarkably agile. It navigates an office on its own, then heads outside to climb a steep hill and a flight of stairs. Spot safely makes its way over rough terrain, which it navigates with the help of its head-mounted sensor. At one point the developers pair Spot with the original Big Dog, which Spot basically humiliates. 

Yeah...but really? Did you have to kick it?

The most disturbing parts of the video, however, come when office workers try to kick Spot over, first inside the office and then in the parking lot. The second kick (at 0:28 in the video) is so forceful that Spot has to scramble to stay upright, but it does.

 

It’s at this point that you should get really freaked out, because this robot struggling to stay upright looks very much like a living thing trying to do the same.

 

Boston Dynamics and parent company Google included little text with the video and no press release or contact information. What Google plans on doing with this kickable robot is anyone’s guess. 

Not in to dogs? More of a cat person? Boston Dynamics has you covered. Meet "Wildcat":

And, there's also "Cheetah Robot." How fast is it? Faster than you. And, faster than Usain Bolt.