Boston Dynamics is utilizing AI and walking robots to rethink and improve industrial monitoring

As AI-enabled robots in manufacturing facilities, power plants, warehouses, and other industrial sites continue to expand in use, more potential use cases are constantly being identified by enterprises that are looking to solve their critical business problems.

The ultimate mission of Boston Dynamics is to imagine and create exceptional robots that enrich people's lives. Building machines that can approximate the mobility, dexterity, and agility of people and animals is a grand challenge. Curiosity and respect for the natural world are at the heart of the work on robots. The company sees products derived from this work as the next step in the human history of building machines to reduce danger, repetition, and physically difficult aspects of work.

Boston Dynamics is using the Spot walking robot as an intelligent roaming edge device – that is equipped with specialized software – to traverse stairs, rough topography, and indoor or outdoor locations, giving operations staff the ability to remotely inspect and monitor equipment with dynamic sensing capabilities.

One of the things that makes Boston Dynamics unique is the ambition to build dynamically stable, legged machines. Marc Raibert began tackling this problem before anyone else in the world. And the company has been at it since, almost 35 years. Boston Dynamics have been inspired by and worked towards this goal for so long that they have invented techniques to make robots work that you can't find in any textbook or technical article. The result is that Boston Dynamics now know how to build walking machines of any size, shape, actuator style, or powerplant. These unique designs enable robots to conquer terrains inaccessible to others and perform automated tasks in unstructured environments.

The spot is a general-purpose robot with broad applications, including potential military uses which could include remote inspection of hazardous environments, rescue operations, or logistics operations. But Boston Dynamics' robots are not made specifically for any particular government or military purpose. As stated in the company's ethical principles, it will not authorize nor partner with those who wish to use its robots as weapons or autonomous targeting systems.