TL;DR: Boston Dynamics partnered with Google DeepMind to give their robot dog the ability to read analog gauges and thermometers.
You probably remember Spot as the creepy yellow robot dog that dances to Uptown Funk. Things just got a lot more serious. Boston Dynamics teamed up with Google DeepMind to give Spot a massive intelligence boost. The dog can now walk up to an industrial gauge, read the dial, and understand exactly what it means.
Think about what this means for factories. You no longer need a human doing rounds with a clipboard to check temperatures and pressure valves. Spot just wanders the floor and does it automatically. It uses Google’s advanced computer vision to process analog displays that were never designed for digital sensors.
This is a huge leap for practical robotics. We spend so much time talking about humanoid robots doing backflips. Meanwhile, Boston Dynamics is quietly solving boring but incredibly lucrative industrial problems. They’re turning their hardware into a smart data collection platform.
Source: Ars Technica