An actual, real-world use for robot dogs
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- Опубліковано 31 жов 2021
- At a pumped storage plant in western Austria, a company called Energy Robotics is testing robot dogs for inspection. All the fancy Boston Dynamics publicity stunts aside: are the robots actually useful? ■ As ever: this is not an advert, Energy Robotics and illwerke vkw had no editorial control. They just asked "do you want to fly your drone inside the Obervermuntwerk II hydroelectric power plant to film a robot dog", and of course I immediately said yes.
Energy Robotics: www.energy-robotics.com/
illwerke vkw: www.illwerkevkw.at/
Edited by Michelle Martin: / mrsmmartin
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Posted 18 hours ago? That must be how long before this video was programmed 🤨
Elo
toM
Commented before it was made public. So don't spam asking how
Ga
Seems like a stealth game level, where you have to shut down the powerplant without being spotted by the robot dog.
You keep breaking things and the robot keeps coming around to fix them
You're that ninja....
!
Or you have to defend it / explore it, and your only companion is the robot dog
Psycho Mantis?!
The fact that the only mobile thing in that entire massive facility is a tiny robot dog that gets up every day to inspect is absolutely hilarious.
Wall-E vibes
Id assume they would have a second doggo for redundancy, but the point still stands
@@FantomRick that's what I came here to say :D
@@DRakeTRofKBam given the price of one, I think the redundancy is calling in an engineer. Even flying him in is probably cheaper than buying a second one to sit around for backup
@@Soken50 how much do they cost?
The fact that the only thing moving around in that entire massive facility is a robot dog that gets up every day to inspect is giving me such Wall-E vibes
It needs a friend
@@lazergurka-smerlin6561 A robot cat whose only job is to make mischief for the robot dog to spot?
@@lazergurka-smerlin6561 _It does not need a friend_
@@spartanwar1185 damn cold
Wasn't that Mo's job?
“Open the overflow valves! The valley is going to flood!”
“I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that.”
Hahahaha
Okay, then we're sending the flea drones with a self-driving car, it's not 2001 anymore :)
@@retepaskab i'm sorry dave, you needed me to be able to interface wirelessly with the inspection enviroment, and has such allowed me to remotely connect to other devices and run my own code, those drones are now mine dave, watchu gonna do.
@@BlueberryWizard imma give them the flu
@@BlueberryWizard I'm going to turn you off
the dog is literally just making sure it's oversized charger isn't damaged.
Underrated
He's literally doing this for living.
Nice!! :D
@@linwengong3264 overrated
@@Lunarfox rated
"This isn't a dangerous site. They let me in after all."
Tom 'Danger' Scott
Did they not see what happened to Tower Bridge just after Tom's visit?
@@ragnkja *I T S A B I T L O U D I N H E R E*
@@toomuchiridium *W H A T*
What’s gonna break next week
150 tons of water per second flow through it. I'm sure that's not dangerous at all
"This isn't a dangerous site. They let me in after all."
I'm imagining scene where the dog opens the front door.
This also gives authors a way to explain why the lights still work in a future dystopian setting where humanity is nearly extinct. Vestigial robots, continuing to follow their programming completely autonomously.
It might make more sense in the long run to keep the lights off and have them remote controlled by the robot wherever needed or use lidar/infrared/sonar guidance for the robot and a spotlight mounted on the robot for visual inspections.
as a stupid guy that likes world building, thanks for the idea
To add to that idea: You could have huge thermal power plants, or maybe even fusion plants in, or close to the ocean to explain where the fuel is coming from. Or, even further in the future, maybe a dyson sphere.
Usher II
Have you read "There will come soft rains" by Ray Bradbury? It's a dystopian short story that examines exactly this theme.
I love how Tom always allows whoever it is he's interviewing to talk freely without interruptions, then adds his piece afterwards
A true gentleman!
To be fair, no one really wants to hear what the interviewers opinion is, that's what FOX 'News' is for
@@rorychivers8769 I think your complaint applies to just about all news channels...
@@rorychivers8769 According to Tom Scott's presentation at the Royal Institute, everyone wants to hear from the personality, not from the expert. So much so that in videos where Tom Scott allows experts to speak, there's a noticeable dip in viewer retention when experts are speaking (Viewers literally just close the video). So in the case of this channel, people definitely do want to hear Tom Scott more than anyone else.
It should be normal to do that but it isnt somehow
Before: The dog ate my homework
Now: The dog did my homework
The future: the dog pissed beer in my cup
banana is good
Future: The dog is your homework
@@channelname4331 The past: the pissed dog in my beer cup
Future: the dog shot my homework
It's so easy to anthropomorphise the dog then feel sad about how lonely it must be.
:(
Then we need a robot cat so they can play.
I can absolutely see a similarly-minded programmer adding a routine to detect & greet other robots in the facility - maybe do a little wiggle or wave. Wouldn’t really add too much time to the inspections or other tasks, and we can collectively “aww” at the videos when they go viral.
when it walked up the stairs I audibly said "awww!"
@@gertrudesuzan9253 Aww!
The movie “Silent Running” with Bruce Dern, was released in 1972. A futuristic Sci-Fi that included autonomous walking robots performing mundane tasks. Almost fifty years on, here we are!
Brilliant movie, one of my all time favourite Sci-Fi films.
In my mind 1972 is still 30 years ago haha
Yes, I saw that movie when I was a kid and have just fragmented memories... but I certainly remember the robots patrolling the spaceship! Well, here we are! Check out the movie on IMDB!
AMONG US
@@mechamudskipper kid go away
For peeing beer in a cup obviously
Obviously
LMAO 😂😂That's exact same thing I thought when I saw the robot
Of course
I understood that refrence.
Take that Boston dynamics
This is a lot like a video-log you'd find on a PC in a post apocalyptic video game, explaining why there are angry robot dogs in the dam trying to kill you.
This is why you be polite to Alexa/Siri/Google Home/etc: be kind to the robots, and you will receive leniency when the Singularity is achieved
Darn it now I really really really want to play a game like that, we could even get Tom Scott to narrate.
Huh fallout and that pink thing
It probably doesn't help that I've seen these robodogs being fitted with automatic rifles a few days ago. The Verge, for example, has an article on it.
@@vojtechjanda9684 oh boy battlefield 2042
It's nice to see a video of Boston Dynamics robots not being bullied but actually being appreciated for doing an important job.
You're exactly right, I've only seen the demos and short interaction shots, all completely controlled. It's good to see that there are real uses other than security for empty places.
@@grimaffiliations3671 But Why? There is absolutely no reason for that.
As a publicity stunt only?
It might not be done exploding
the 'real uses' are military. For example, look up 'Vision 60' - they are going to be used heavily in warfare to kill people
@@itemushmush used by police in the US, because ofc they had to cutify these robots before using them against people.
@@itemushmush Of course, most innovation comes from conflict
This feels like a scene setup for a sneaking video game where you avoid patrolling sentry robots.
Horizon Zero Dawn has segments like that
Metroid Dread?
Or your the robot and somethings in the plant that you have to stop. Like a horror game.
soon it will be reality when these robots are employed as security guards
@@cactus5781 soon we will willingly give them guns
I have to admit, that seeing a huge, operating facility, with autonomous robot being the only thing overlooking its operation on site, is something else.
Have you seen WALL-E? :D
@@OuJej1 or 2001: A Space Odyssey
@@azertyQ or The Shining?
@@jtsotherone or Post-Lily's Proposal SCP-001?
GLADOS and the *cake*
finally, a use for robot dog that doesn't make me extremely suspect of the intentions of both BD and the companies buying from them
There is only one use for a robot dog and its a strong weapons platform
@@big3erg993 Have you seen the video? That makes it at least two uses.
@@TheFrozenMister didnt you watch the video? Its comical. A security camera with a sensor is 1/10 the price
@@big3erg993 It's simply not though, you'd need a *very* large array of cameras to do what this is doing, and unless you put a 360 camera every foot or so, all high-end, high quality, with multiple features, you can't have the same as what this is doing. Not to mention the astoundingly larger coding job that would be.
That would *not* be cheaper, or likely even feasible. This is a much cheaper method in terms of hardware, and I'm not sure how expensive the code development is, but the thing about that is it only needs to be done once (sorta). After that it's definitvely cheaper.
Not to mention that this tech is developing, and not in a wistful far of dream way, we're watching uses emerge, and with every test case such as this, the hardware designs can be refined, and the code can be upgraded, along with data being collected to train that code, for various uses, far less trivial than this.
I don't mean to imply that this wont be militarized, it certainly will (although likely as an equipment carrier and scouting tool before a weapons platform), but it's comical to disregard any and all possibility this has.
@@Red_Bastion Btw you know a "high-end" camera in an elevated position can distinguish people better then a ground level robo dog by almost 200m?
In-fact unlike you thought it requires no coding at all
The whole time I was thinking "who plugs it in for a charge"? Then I saw the self charging dog bed
I always love when an industrial environment is spotless clean like this.
And strangely bright. This has a Star Trek vibe.
But there is a Spot in it?
@@brll5733 aha!!! Good one!
i wonder how they stay so clean.
@Alabama Boi everything going in and out if industrial warehouses is covered in dust, a lot of the up keep is done by smaller variety of street sweepers but much softer bristles ment for properly washing without damage and regular maintenance by the eplyees
It was an absolute pleasure working with Tom Scott and showing him our autonomous inspection solution. Thanks Tom, for the superlative video. It's a great push for our mission to prevent humans from being deployed in dangerous environments.
Thanks for dooming humanity to enslavement and technological hell
TED KACZYNSKI DID NOTHING WRONG
To all the naysayers: read industrial society and its future, and quit being a bunch of low testosterone bootlickers.
@@anona8749 SO, you apply for the really hazardous and dangerous jobs then. Tell them you don't want the robot to do it you will do it instead. Shortens the gene pool if nothing else!
A question: if the power plants have no on-site humans, do the room lights need to be on?
A follow-up question: can the Boston Dynamic RoboDogs operate a flashlight 🔦?
Boiling water is dangerous, can you send me one to make tea?
@@Jim1255783 The lights are on for safety reasons. But all of our robots need to operate in the dark as well. Thats why the all have lights .. incl. direct lights
At my company, we've explored the question of using these robots for inspection purposes too. Unfortunately, there's a simple obstacle that made us decide against them : doors.
I don't know about hydro power plants, but a lot of other industrial sites have a lot of doors, dividing the plant into smaller spaces, making the use of a single robot impossible.
Now i know spot can theoretically open doors with its claw, but its a specialty feature that costs a lot of money.
Couldn't you just leave the problematic doors open or remove them entirely. Or as dumb as it may sound; install doggydoors?
Opening doors is a separate feature you have to pay for. That's even funny in some way.
@@carnosaur93 You mean leave fire doors open?
Interesting to see, but this does feel like more of test site for this technology rather than the best or cheapest solution. An array of camera's and other sensors would probably be cheaper and will provide continuous real-time monitoring.
@ 残高 depending on number of sensors that needs to be deployed but the argument could be made that you are getting continuous real-time monitoring instead of waiting for the robot's report. It's cool to have the robot but it doesn't look practical
@@tmilesp robo dog probably has a lower failure rate and uses less power
the thing is, an array of cameras is more expensive and unreliable than one camera.
Imagine that you're trying to find a new job after being replaced with a robot dog, and your prior experience is "drove to dam every few days to make sure it's still there."
Having done some engineering interviews recently and gotten asked dumb, basic questions that anyone in their right mind would look up instead of memorize, I suspect that it wouldn’t be held against them. People seem to appreciate other people doing and knowing about mundane things.
"Guys the dam is gone"
"What?"
"I drove out here and it's just not here anymore
@@12-343 There are no graphite on the ground
But in the last part of the video, they literally say that there are not enough people, and the robots are only supplementing insufficient workforce
@@12-343 You took the wrong turn
I remember learning about (the at-the-time future uses of) robots in school, it was all bomb defusal, radiation, and collapsing buildings. "It's just inconvenient to drive here" is a new robot application that I don't think anyone expected.
We've sent robots to other planets for decades because it is *really* inconvenient to put people there.
@@Br3ttM As it is inconvenient to defuse a bomb yourself
The best case use for robots generally are less the flashy things and more the this is too boring and tedious for a human things.
@@Br3ttM good point
I mean, why wouldn't one expect it?
Ignoring war-time innovation, the driving force behind human innovation has been "being too lazy to do X" for eons now.
Interesting to think about how in this instance, there was a necessity for a robot that can maneuver in an environment designed for human movement. It's possible facilities like this in the future may be designed to include robots from the very start of construction.
Yup. For instance, they could implement low cost light load lifts that would bring the robots up and down. They could be really tiny (the lifts) and cost less than an actual staircase. It would probably make sense to do it, as the robot would spend less time moving and the lift would require less energy to bring the robot up, than the robot consumes by going up stairs.
@@CanIHasThisName -- Well, you could have trolley wires with cameras running back and forth like they have for football games. But these are hardly trouble free. It's worth the trouble for a football games with literally $million$ of advertising but sometimes, it's cheaper to have a real person spend a few hours a week at each plant.
@@GilmerJohn Well someone would have to install those trolleys, which would take a lot of money and resources (time and material), potentially more than the robot itself. The robot can be told to look at very specific things from very specific angles and it probably took a few hours for someone to bring it in and power it on. The rest was software. If you need additional readings, you install one sensor on the robot, whereas you'd need a whole bunch of sensors for the moving cameras.
I genuinely think the robot is very close to being the ideal solution, if it ends up working as intended.
@@CanIHasThisName A simple ramp would be way more efficient in both cost and energy usage.
@@KainYusanagi We generally use stairs inside of buildings because they can be much steeper than a ramp, take up less space and require less material to build, therefore they are also cheaper. When you compare a small lift for the robot itself to a ramp, the amount of material required is trivial. The elevator would take up negligible amount of space, allowing for a much more efficient use of it and therefore be cheaper for the building as a whole as well (the building could be smaller). And the elevator would be more energy efficient bringing the robot up than the robot itself going up a ramp, especially if it was equipped with a counterweight which could be very specifically adjusted for the weight of the robot.
Tom Scott: "So what are those robots actually being used for in the real world?"
Michael Reeves: "Pissing beer in their HQ's car park."
the only good use for them
Every engineering apprentice hoping their boss buys a robot dog so they don't have to keep walking to the van/workshop to get all the parts and tools. Then going back again to get the right one.
then losing their jobs
Ryrr
@@csanadhorvath don't be stupid
@@csanadhorvath are you telling me you rather work in a dangerous place than letting a walking metal do it for you?
Same for elected apprentices too!
The human is fascinating. On the one hand we have people that use the dog for great, practical applications and on the other hand we have people that use it to deliver beer by peeing in the cups.
Pissing beer in a cup is very much a great, practical application of the robot dog
I wouldn't be surprised if onahole robot dogs exist because of that idea you just mentioned lmao
And we also have police and military exploring the uses of it as a tool of data collection and illegal surveillance, so there's that too
Both are interesting applications.
@@Wolfsbane1100 There's an Air Force base(I think in Florida) that uses them for perimeter patrol in the swampy areas already. Spooky stuff.
I love spot's charging station, its like a little bed for him
There is an old Flash game called "Robot wants puppy", the second game of four about a robot waning a kitty, a puppy, a fishy and icecream. (Brilliant games with brilliant music).
This "Robot IS puppy" reminded me of those games.
The good thing about robotic inspections over people is they don't get bored and get sloppy gathering data, the just do their job and do it the same every bloody time. When you want to watch for slowly evolving trends, having good repeatable data is awesome.
That is a good point.
Even if you provide the human with a checklist and patrol-evidence check-in spots, there will be people who occasionally (or more!) just "pencil-whip" the results.
-
I saw this when I worked at a convenience store, where every 45 minutes employees were supposed to go to all of the coolers and freezers and note the temperatures.
One day I came in for my shift and found the deli case was at 85 degrees F, and had been long enough for everything to go bad. But the checklist showed good temperatures written in for the entire shift before mine.
How many dams across the world have failed do to issues that must have been visible for years, but were never discovered on inspections?
@asdfasdf I mean, mankind *did* invent machines to automate tasks and increase our leisure time. With more robots replacing human workers, something like a Universal Income not only seems viable, it seems like the *right* thing to do :)
@@3nertia why stop at universal basic income? Why would currency be necessary if everyone's needs can be met easily?
@asdfasdf **Dune noises.**
2060 Tom Scott retires and sends "Tom Bot" around the world to continue filming for this channel.
And it still wears the red shirt and grey hoodie.
Tom Bott
Bruh, Tom would still enjoy all the traveling and socializing, but Tom Bot will do all the research, fact finding, scripting, and production. It’ll also hold the boom mike and capture sound perfectly, even inside a power station.
"Hi, I'm not Tom Scott."
@HahThatsWhatSheSaid an integrated drone and 360 degree cameras on selfie sticks
Okay, I'll go ahead and say it, that robot is absolutely adorable and I love it so much.
Perhaps we will one day have robotic pets?
The one thing I love about your videos is that I can never expect what topic you’ll show us and it always has me coming back to watch your videos!
So cool to see the old versions of robocody in action!
yup
They've certainly gotten a lot more handsome in recent releases..!
⛈️
i like banana
i steal memes nicely I love banyanya
This would've replaced me in the eighties, I did 60 inspection checks every shift and the plant ran for 365 days a year.
Did the same, in an USAF prime powerplant.
Was the pay good?
so they took a off only on leap years?
I think that things like this are going to replace a lot of people in the coming years too.
Back in the day did you say things like "They may be able to automate some things, but they will NEVER be able to automate engineering inspections"?
After playing Metroid Dread, this seems a lot more scary than it otherwise would be
Ittnbdr?
Remind me in the future when robot assistants like these are common household appliances to call mine Emmi
@@macstokow is that the new Boston Dynamics robot? :o
@@Pokemonlin99 maybe.
This have no reason to fail the testing period.
1) A robot will always do its task without "glancing over details" out of habit, unlike humans
2) It have a cost of maintenance and energy, but so does a car. (Not even accounting for employee salary)
3) Perform multiple routines a day instead of a daily inspection, better reaction time if something happens.
There are ways it can fail. The implementation of CV (computer vision) can very easily lead to false positives/negatives. What if the robot thinks that something is working the way it should when its actually wrong? Just one mistake like that could end up costing millions of dollars.
@@luqdude Agreed, it's a bit naive to say this has no shot of failure. That said, I do like the odds. Automated processes are more (and occasionally less to be fair) trustworthy than most people give them credit for, _if_ made well.
4) will perform any task without any question of logic, sanity, or ethics
@@burgeryoufoundbehindthegrill I really do hate when people act so irrationally afraid of new technology, particularly robotics. Please just stop, the future isn't told by your favorite sci-fi movie
200 years after the apocalypse, desperate survivors break into an abandoned powerplant for shelter. The settle down thinking themselves safe for a moment, before a quadrepedal robot casually strolls past, takes a photo, then carries on its route.
It detects a human lying down, thinks they're injured, and tries to get other humans nearby to help. :D
Accurately detected the person is without a company RFID tag, and call in nearest police station. Face scan provided.
Whining softly in a synthesised manner as it vanishes from view...
apocalypse, do you expect dams and its control system to survive, how naive. Do you know there is life for dams(100 years max, most of them 50 years) and robots(don't even talk about it) also.
@@yoppindia hoover dam is going strong
Tom Scott: "What are robot dogs actually used for?"
Michael Reeves: *Maniacal Laughter*
hehe
LMAO 😂😂 I thought the exact same thing. He's the one that taught such robot dog to oee beer 😂😂😂😂
I prefer entertaining videos to annoying ones. Reeves sucks.
@@samditto I thought it was hella entertaining. Reeves cracks me up.
has that dude been to a dermatologist and the gym yet?
I literally cried at the last shot of the video with this tiny yellow robo doggo in the gigantic empty power plant
Another example is LKAB, the mining company working in the northern Swedish mines in Kiruna, uses spot inside the mines for example where there's a lot of toxic gas after detonations. Among the robot dogs they've also used drones inside the mines. They've worked with my uni and showed off their gear, it's very interesting.
It must be strange to be alone in such a big place, and just watch a robot walk around doing its thing. Reminds me of Wall-E
Silent Running (1972) captured that mood excellently.
Yes! I was thinking of Wall-E also
Reminds me of visiting school on the weekends.
I suppose it makes sense. They say they're short of engineers, but the problem with paying engineers to do these inspections is you're mostly paying them to drive around. Engineers cost north of $100/hr, so you might as well pay that for them to be always inspecting, not spend most of that paid time in a car driving.
Then can you elaborate on a better human resources management ?
@@ripmorld9909 The engineers can spend their time examining what Spot has seen & only going out to jobs that need their expertise saving time & vast sums of money.
@@Foojaleeckalikeelamaka correct me if I am wrong, but what you said seems to be exactly what they are doing.
@@ripmorld9909 no, it's saving sending engineers out to these sites to check them just to find there's nothing wrong... They are only sent to sites where the dog has spotted there is something wrong
@@ripmorld9909 😂😂
Also: not having to send a human unless necessary means saving a lotta fuel (and in the case of electric cars, the accu), which is much better for the environment and doesn't require so much fixing cars broken down from the wear and tear caused by driving those shitty roads.
The humans can use a gym, for ex, to do something productive instead of dying of boredom.
It's so cool to see Spot being used in actual cases! Boston Dynamics must be so thrilled to be vindicated with their research like this. And seeing the 'bot trudge along like this in an empty powerplant is oddly calming.
Spot will be used in warfare to kill people. Don't get me started on "oh but its against the terms of service" - the military doesn't care about TOS violations.
Look at Vision 60 by Ghost Robotics as to where this tech is heading. I'm a software engineer and I am horrified by where its going to lead
@@itemushmush I’ve seen it. We are only in the beginning
I immediately thought of a post apocalyptic future where the robot dog happily keeps inspecting the powerplant and sending reports, but nobody is alive to read them.
Damn.
Damn.
Fallout sidequest: sneak past a powerplant's automated security to let robodog know he's doing a good job.
Same!
A scene out of a new version of On The Beach could easily have that as the scene to replace the window frame tapping on the morse key.
For the people here who are upset about the fact that robots are once again replacing human jobs, I invite you to consider that perhaps something is wrong with our economic system when having a machine to do your tedious/dangerous job for you is a bad thing
We shouldn't even have washing machines, we should all just have people in our houses that do the work... wait.
And by that I mean that a robot doing your job for you should mean you don't have to work anymore (or at least much less) but because we make people's access to life's necessities dependent on how much work they do and the workers don't own the robots that replace them or the things they produce, we're stuck in an endless cycle of having to find a new place to toil away to make money for an owner just so you don't starve. Brilliant system, truly the best there could possibly be, and surely the one that results in the most freedom /s
@@thesoupin8or673 UBI would sure take the sting out of widespread automation
@@MiseFreisin UBI isn’t a good enough solution. Once people are forced out of their jobs by automation, they will have to depend entirely on government handouts, and that opens the door for a whole host of opportunities for exploitation and manipulation. If you act out of line, or if you’re even born as a minority, you could have your access to human rights cut by a system of UBI. It also robs the working class of its greatest bargaining chip against the ruling class, which is their labour.
That "dog" is staring at that machine for a long time, and then slowly backs away. That was actually unnerving.
In the future well be praying for the robot dogs to just slowly back away after staring at us.
Robot vs robot war
I can’t help but imagine discovering this abandoned building years later and finding the robot still operational
“Alexa, tell Fido to check the hydro plant”
"Alexa tell Fido to check the kids in the basement"
Sorry dave, I cant do that
Alexa: HA HA HA HA HA
I love that their robot dog is so much more sophisticated and articulated than the one the Doctor picked up in the 51st Century. I think K9 is better at hunting robot parrots, though.
Who is the doctor?
@@NystektVaffel Doctor capitalized. That is what that particular Time Lord is called. And it references Doctor Who.
@@NystektVaffel Spoilers!
JK, they mean the main protagonist of BBC's Doctor Who, simply known as "The Doctor". A time traveling humanoid alien with 2 hearts and a whole lot of attitude.
in the 51st century our sense of aesthetics will go right back to the 70's futurism aesthetics and all our machines will just be little geometrical things
@@FantasmaNaranja A-ffirma-tive! (Sense of aesthetics includes speech patterns?)
Come far from dropping drums and cymbals of a cliff. Amazing work Tom, I hope you’re doing what makes you happy.
And when we all enjoy christmas with our families dont forget that, while we open presents, a small robo-doggo will get out of its charging station and do its daily tasks in a cold and lonely powerplant
thats better than people working over the holidays
also don't forget that the small robo-doggo is a machine with no feelings or thoughts, is only concerned with doing its daily tasks and is incapable of caring about loneliness
The robot is just an expensive computer with machine learning. Stop anthropomorphizing machines.
Poor robo-dog hopefully Santa will drop by and have a pint or two
good thing it doesnt have emotions
I'm really surprised it's cheaper to have sensors on high-tech walking robots, rather than just having more sensors that are stationary at the key points.
Interesting question! I hope someone answers....
That's what I thought. Just put cameras at strategic locations. Surely even a few hundred cameras are cheaper than one dog.
I wouldn't be surprised if one or two dogs were actually cheaper than a few hundred cameras. ;)
Not to mention the hassle of installing and maintaining them.
Or the issue of "key points" - what if something breaks somewhere else? With a robot, you can react on the fly.
One example of cost here is the Thermal camera, it costs about 5000$ and if you need 20 of those cameras around your plant the robot is cheaper. Another advantage is the flexibly you have with these robots, to check something the stationary sensor might not see
I wished they talked about this. But there MUST be a logical reason to use spot. Engineers are smart, they wouldn't buy spot if there was a better way.
"What are robot dogs actually being used for"
*cuts over to Michael Reeves*
I immediately thought of that as well lmao
"What are robot dogs actually being used for?"
"PISSING BEER INTO CUPS"
We need an update on pissbot9000
It's so awesome to see real world applications, and it actually being used.
Amazing, imagine showing this to a person in 1980, they would say that science fiction isn't even close to what the future will be like.
"It's a bit loud in here", says Tom, not wearing hearing protection, standing in front of a sign that says you should be wearing hearing protection.
What a rebel
Look again
mulgerbill is right. Look in his ear at 0:26
1900s inspection: "Alright, send an engineer over"
2020s inspection: " *Standby for Titanfall* "
“haha papa scorch go brrrrrrrrr”
"Cooper, trust me"
@@althafrafianto Can't fail an inspection if there's nothing left to inspect.
@@UzairW cant tell if its a titan fall reference or interstellar
@@Andytlp titanfall reference
"If the dog comes across, say, a body it will report it"
"That's cool!"
"..."
"..."
"And if it finds an intruder, it will kill them"
"Wait, what?"
"Nothing."
a m o g u s.
@@jgcodes2020 you have summoned my profile pic
Robodog on seeing intruder, "Protocol says I report body lying on the ground, I must make it lie very still on the ground so I can report it." It's just the logical way to handle it.
Self report
Nah, taking care of the intruder is the job of the humans. They have nothing to do of their days, with robots doing all the work, so that's a good distraction and way to exercise.
I love how smooth it glides up stairs, it almost looks like it hovering or something. BD made a great machine.
All of their machines I've seen are inhumanly smooth and precise, I love just watching them.
Michael Reeves had a slightly different idea for his robot dog compared to this, and it is revolutionary!
Well, he’s a bit... _artistic_ in his mad science.
Michael Reeves's idea was also an actual, real-world use. Just not a very good one.
"which means power companies save money" and in a perfect world, that would reflect a lower monthly bill on my end but we all know how thats going to play out
It does though. Just look at gasoline prices for the most obvious example of energy prices going up and down depending on costs from the producers.
@@poochyenarulez gas is a product with major competition within a small area, energy production is most of the time a monopoly on a large one. No free market, you rarely get to choose between 2 or 3 energy providers do you. Makes sense bc it would be worse if every provider had to build all the transmission everywhere they wanted to sell, but monopolies ,private or not, drives prices up.
I bet that when their customers are behind in payments,
Something at the door....
@@rafael_lana The transmission is a monopoly, but the production is not. In Germany there are 1200 electricity producers overall, and as a private consumer you can choose on average between 160 of them. It does not help much, though, because most of the price consists of taxes - which are of course a monopolistic construct.
@@clray123 So in Germany you have your home with your wires connected to the power grid at a fixed point, but then you choose freely from about 160 options who you are going to pay for the energy you are using? How does that work?
just the way the robot dog walks up the stairs brings me so much joy
would watch a longer video of just the dog walking
I always wondered how these robots can be used, besides military. Seeing an actual working example is really cool.
I wonder, wouldn't a drone flying through the whole thing and being able to get even closer to things be more beneficial, less complex and cheaper? In fact, one like the drone that is already filming the shots?!
Someone would have to control the drone.....
And drones can't charge themselves
Good question, seems like that would be better in every way.
If robodog stops working, it stops where it is. If the drone stops working, it falls out of the air on to something.
@@huzaifakhambhati8767 Could be computer controlled going through the same path in space, with collision avoidance sensors and such. And I'm sure drones can be made to charge themselves
ELECTRO BOOM
Tom Scott " it's a bit loud in here" Also Tom Scott, not wearing hearing protection by a blue Mandatory hearing protection sign.
I'm really glad it showed how it charges, that was something I was always wondering if it would be a problem for remote tasks
I love it. It's nice to watch a robot work. We need lots of them.
Alternative title: _The robotic good boy who's keeping your lights on_
The robot dog can only get two types of performance review; "Who´s a goood boy??" and "BAD dog!", so it´s in binary.
That makes things a lot easier for its programers!
We've all seen the BD proof of concept videos of their tech but it's super cool to see an actual real world application of them!
Love your videos. They are short yet informative at the same time.
"We need a robot on legs to interact with the human environment"
Boston Dynamics, why not design a wheelchair replacement?
Yes, please. I want a personal mech.
Who says they arent working on it? Range would be a problem, spot regularly charges
hhhh robot spider legs brb crippling myself
Countdown until someone gets crushed to death by their robot chair.
They could make some kinda walking chair for outdoors but it wouldnt work in most/many human environments atm because to support that much weight for any length of time it would be too big and heavy- mainly batteries and chunky hydrolics. Also to be stable it would need to be a fair bit wider than a wheelchair i suspect.
The end product would just be mostly too big and bulky for stairs or shops or houses etc. It would also have a very limited battery time. At least at our current tech lvl.
One thing that might not be immediately obvious - fixed cameras and sensors can fail in ways that just end up displaying their last valid reading endlessly, and it's very hard to spot if that's the reading that one expects to see. A roving sensor platform is presumably going to have constantly changing data coming through so a sensor failure will be much easier to spot.
Remotely turn on light. Does the image get bright? No: go fix.
Wow. This is actually awesome! Getting lots of futuristic robot vibes right now
Top notch content as usual. Thank you Tom!
It's kinda eerie imagining this robot dog trundling around by itself in there.
Very fun to picture it
So... Why is this better than a bunch of cameras again?
there's a plot for an amazing horror game set in a hydroelectric power station where the bots have mysteriously gone missing and a person has to go see what's up here somewhere
To the point at the end, I can imagine a robot checking that all the thousands of bolts at any given facility are tightened to the correct torque would be more efficient at it than any millwrights apprentice who ever cared to try.
Problem with that is that the human eye hand cordination is insane and really hard to mimick on a robot. If the bolt is in a weird direction or the bot is offsync a torque check might be hard. In a conveyor line that might be the norm nowdays
@@bhoubit And as robots get more and more common, machines and workplaces will be designed with having the robots in mind aswell. And the robots will be more designed to handle the machines and workplaces. Take Ocado's automated warehouse for online grocery shopping for example. Specifically designed for robots to do their job efficiently. Also take car manufacturers as another example. Huge robot arms doing their job in huge spaces.
With Ladar a robot could see exactly the direction a bolt is screwed in. Is it a job too advanced for it? Well call in a human. The point with robots is to make jobs autonomous and cost efficient. That way you can use the expensive humans only for jobs that require them.
It looks so content when it lies down to re-charge.
One use I want to see robot dogs put to is as guide dogs. Some vision-impaired people may not have the space or inclination to keep a dog, but would still benefit from the kind of assistance a dog provides.
At the moment there are too many variables in the world; same sort of problems as self-driving cars. Hopefully we'll get there one day. :)
This is so cool! In the near future there will be power plants that are generating power completely autonomously, with absolutely no need for human interaction, and I love that kind of complete automation!
This is great! What I'm worried about is the fact that a whole lot of police forces and army officials are showing interest in putting guns on these things..
Why would this be a worry?
Attach an xbox controller to this thing and you have a platform that can reach a threat indoors without issue. No police officers or soldiers get killed.
I have no idea why there's worry about the "autonomous" stuff when the solution is to... not have that feature?
Boston dynamics specifically don’t want that. That’s why everything is so colourful and they dance and don’t shoot.
@@KiLLJoYUA-cam If a robot were to confuse the bad guy for a "friend" and a good guy for a "target".
I'd trust a robot more than the usual pig incapable of doing his job
why would you be more worried about that than micro-drones with explosive charges?
Now the important question is, how do we make them pass those savings onto us and to the employees? Because they won't do it willingly
Why do you think you are entitled to those savings? It is their property, you have 0 claim to it whatsoever.
cool to see a properly detailed use case - thanks!
Bravo! Now I see where the real potential and value is. I never thought about "real use" too much, but this whole technology became SO much cooler once I realized it has real value.
the real value is in military applications: putting a gun on the picatinny rails is just the next step. hope you like autonomous vehicles killing humans!
Love seeing this, ive been saying for a while that the main use i can see for robots is in hazardous places, but remote places makes sense too!
Not going to be dramatic here, but they'll also be used in combat and will have weapons attached. Just look at the Vision 60 'dogbot'
@@itemushmush who cares
Well, it's not clear that most robots can "survive" where human fear to go.
It's also worth noting that these devices are being seen at arms trade conventions as well
They don't have consciences.
@@thursoberwick1948 Neither do the robots.
@@RedHillian I was referring to the robots, but "true dat."
@@thursoberwick1948 Who is "they"? Also Boston dynamics has specifically outlined in their acceptable use policy that their robots can't be used to harm people.
@@bread8465 policies dont stop people from putting guns on them
this is awesome, I can't wait to see this technology integrates into maintenance and repair tasks, that will be amazing!
Wow, a real physic agent capable of moving autonomously in an environment, and controlled remotely by supervision software. What a powerful combination!
Places where the task is too dangerous for a human, too repetitive for a human, too strenuous for a human or too precise for a human.
So things like placing and soldering components on PCBs, moving heavy loads, assembling parts or inspecting irradiated areas.
I can see them being used in disaster management and rescue. Why send a human into the area, that might get injured or lost as well, when you can send a robot build for the task that can offer communication between the injured and rescue workers back at base.
placing and soldering components on PCBs can be done with something far simpler (and probably cheaper and better suited) than a robot dog.
Underwater welding....
As someone who job it is to go out and inspect machines that have broken down (usually something muuuuuch simpler than this), often in hygienic environments, I can honestly say that I'm not worried about losing my job to these robots, but they can't get here soon enough! Particularly the versions were I can instruct them to make fairly simple but often labour intensive/non-intuitive (for humans) changes to the machines remotely. Shipping a robot to site would almost always be quicker and cheaper than sending me across the world to do it. Even better if our customers had those robots we could access/control remotely, rather than having to ship our own!
What makes you think you'll be the one who owns the repairbot? As soon as you teach it to do your job, you're fired!
@@kilbert666 somebody still needs to go out and fix something if it is broken and companies still need somebody to be legally responsible in case something goes wrong.
@@Spazturtle True. The robot is a way to make the job easier, safer, and more precise, but there will always need to be a human to either work with the robot, fix the robot, control and charge the robot (for the ones that aren't autonomous), and/or look at the data the robot is sending (either directly or after being processed by a computer).
great idea showing what Boston Robotic's dogs are up to in real life situations
I wonder how good it is at spotting things that may be wrong, which are NOT already part of its list of items to check. For example, if there's a puddle on a floor, an unusual noise or vibration.
Same as a human, if a vibration/noise of something is not on the checklist, it will be ignored and not checked.