Need a creepy robot dog? Boston Dynamics is now leasing Spot.
By now, we're all familiar with the dark wizardry being done over at Boston Dynamics. The robotics firm has become famous in recent years for viral videos of bipedal and quadrupedal robots doing things like opening doors and other activities that could, eventually, spell doom for the human race.
The small robotic dog known as Spot isn't commercially available yet, but Tuesday's news brings us closer to that reality. Boston Dynamics has started leasing Spot out to select clients. That means you could potentially see Spot doing its thing out in the wild, away from the Boston Dynamics labs that spawned all those videos.
There's even a commercial. That's right: A commercial for a robot. That's where we are.
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Spot can amble around at a little more than five feet per second for 90 minutes at a time. It can also carry a payload of up to about 30 pounds. These characteristics are useful because, right now, it looks like Boston Dynamics is leasing it to companies for things like construction and monitoring oil and gas facilities.
Boston Dynamics didn't include pricing information on its website, but we've reached out to them for clarification.
Spot owners can load different hardware modules onto its back to make it do whatever they need, giving Spot some flexibility. While it seems like Spot is only available in a limited capacity right now, The Verge reported it will be commercially available at some point this year.
It might be a little bit jarring now to see advertisements for mobile robots with actual, practical functions, but you'd better get used to it.
Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.
