UPDATED 16:04 EST / JUNE 23 2016

NEWS

Chronic robot abusers Boston Dynamics unveil dish-cleaning giraffe robot

Alphabet-owned robotics company Boston Dynamics first developed a reputation for abusing its impressive yet slightly creepy creations when it posted a video of several employees kicking and pushing a robot to show off its stability. Now, the company once again continues that abusive trend in a video introducing an odd, giraffe-like robot called SpotMini.

SpotMini is a smaller, more agile version of the company’s Spot robot, which was showcased in the original robot abuse video that was posted roughly a year ago. In addition to being able to cross rough terrain and even climb stairs, SpotMini is also capable of more delicate tasks like doing the dishes and recycling aluminum cans.

“SpotMini is a new smaller version of the Spot robot, weighing 55 lbs dripping wet (65 lbs if you include its arm.) SpotMini is all-electric (no hydraulics) and runs for about 90 minutes on a charge, depending on what it is doing,” Boston Dynamics said in the video description.

“SpotMini is one of the quietest robots we have ever built. 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.”

SpotMini has a similar body design to the original spot, but it is also capable of having a giraffe-like neck attached that acts as a sort of articulated arm that can pick up and move objects. In one demonstration, the robot slipped and fell on some banana peels, but using the neck attachment, it was able to push itself upright and stand up.

Despite the fact that the robot is not programmed to feel anything, it is still a little sad to see it falling to the ground. The big googly eyes Boston Dynamics added to it “head” don’t help either.

You can watch the full video of Boston Dynamics’ new SpotMini robot below:

Photo by gschmd 

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