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SpotMini Robot Pierson's Puppeteer-Style
SpotMini is strangely creepy (to me, anyway) and yet desirable. It's Boston Dynamics latest robot pet and helper.
(Boston Dynamics SpotMini)
The eager-to-please SpotMini is about the size of a Labrador retriever and weighs 55 pounds “dripping wet,” according to the robotics company. A video posted Thursday shows the all-electric machine load a glass into a dishwasher and put an aluminum can in the recycling bin.“SpotMini is one of the quietest robots we have ever built,” the video description reads. “It has a variety of sensors, including depth cameras, a solid state gyro (IMU) and proprioception sensors in the limbs. These sensors help with navigation and mobile manipulation. SpotMini performs some tasks autonomously, but often uses a human for high-level guidance.”
I've figured out a way to like the SpotMini robot - I see it as a Pierson's Puppeteer from Larry Niven's Known Space stories. Unfortunately, my books are all in boxes while we remodel our house, so I can't offer a quote. Suffice it to say that the puppeteers use their heads for hands - their lips are kind of knobby and they can easily grasp and manipulate objects with them.
Now watch the video - kind of cute, aren't they?
Via KSI.
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