Meet ‘Spot,’ a 160-Pound Dog Robot

A dog named Spot isn’t exactly what you’d call cuddly. The 160-pound, electrically powered, hydraulically actuated robot dog was introduced today by Boston Dynamics, a company bought by Google last year.

“Our mission at Boston Dynamics is to develop a new breed of rough-terrain robots that capture the mobility, autonomy and speed of living creatures,” states the company, which makes robots for the military. “The goal is to achieve animal-like mobility on rough and rugged terrain, terrain too difficult for any existing vehicle.”

Boston Dynamics previously created a robot named BigDog — the “Most Advanced Rough-Terrain Robot on Earth” — that weighs a whopping 240 pounds and can carry 340 pounds. But BigDog isn’t as agile or quick as Spot, who has a sensor head that helps it navigate and negotiate rough terrain.

A video rather disturbingly shows Spot getting a gentle kick, and then, moments later, a really hard kick. I know, I know, it’s just a cyberdog, but I bet that made you gasp, too. For a robot, Spot’s movements are remarkably doglike.

“No robots were harmed in the making of this video,” Boston Dynamics assures us. Uh, okay.

Photo via YouTube