Watch This Freaky Pet Robot Dog Fetch Beers And Do The Dishes

Google’s Boston Dynamics makes some creepy but capable machines.

Boston Dynamics agile SpotMini robo dog - dancing.gif
Boston Dynamics

SpotMini shakes its metallic groove thing (Photo: Boston Dynamics c/o Imgur)

The laws of the tech universe clearly state that for us to consider robots well designed, they must dance entertainingly, serve us beverages and demonstrate independence. Extra points if they move and look realistic in the process.

By those criteria, Boston Dynamics hit a home run with its SpotMini bot. While you wonder whether it’s a dog with a long neck or an agile mini-giraffe, take a look at its impressive repertoire.

Hey, gimme my beer! (Photo: Boston Dynamics)
Hey, gimme my beer! (Photo: Boston Dynamics c/o Imgur)

Yup, it can bring you stuff. And for better or worse, it can even perform a playful little tug-of-war with the object it’s handing you. (Probably best to open the shaken can away from its circuitry.)

Even banana peels can't stymie it (Photo: Boston Dynamics c/o Imgur)
It does great slapstick. (Photo: Boston Dynamics c/o Imgur)

Although you’ll see in the video below that it can easily crawl under tables, skip up the stairs and even move dishes from the sink into the dishwasher (which is more than we can say for a certain roommates), it can easily recover from a banana peel-induced fall, using its multifunctional neck and grabbing claw to right itself.

In the end the machine’s lack of skin is kind of disarming. The metallic skeleton look reassures us it isn’t real, because some kind of fake silicone flesh would be really unsettling. We look forward to the next litter of robo animals from these folks, whatever hybrid they may happen to be.

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