Robo Dog Opens Doors for its Robo Friend

Today Boston Dynamics posted a video of its SpotMini quadruped robot extending an arm out of its head to turn a handle. With the dexterity of a tray-carrying butler, it uses its foot to prop the door ajar, then elbows it all the way open for its (armless) SpotMini friend to walk through. At face value, it's a pretty incredible feat. But it's also an interesting twist in the quest to make robots that get along with a world built by and for humans. Maybe the Darpa Robotics Challenge had it wrong with humanoids after all, and the best robots for rescue operations will look nothing like humans—or any other animal, for that matter.

At the moment, humanoids are great at two things: Looking like humans and falling on their faces, as the Robotics Challenge showed so well. (Though one particular humanoid, Cassie, does much better in part because it doesn't yet have an upper body to worry about yet.) Walking on two legs is a monumental challenge; that’s why Chimp, a vaguely humanoid machine that rolled on treads instead of lumbering on two legs, did so well. And also why SpotMini has such promise. Humanoids should be inherently well-equipped to explore environments built for humans, what with all the stairs and such. But SpotMini has a leg up (sorry) here because four limbs are inherently more stable than two. Not to mention that it’s more energy efficient if you don’t have to constantly balance your machine to not fall on its face.



Credits:
https://www.wired.com/story/watch-boston-dynamics-spotmini-robot-open-a-door/