🚗 2024 Canadian International AutoShow. Hyundai x Boston Dynamics 🤖(4K HDR)

Tuesday, 05 March 2024 08:00.AM

Spot, Boston Dynamics’4-legged walking robot, is an agile mobile robot that navigates terrain with unprecedented mobility, allowing businesses to automate routine inspection tasks and data capture safely, accurately, and frequently. Almost a thousand Spots are already out in the world today, performing valuable work for safer, more efficient and more predictable operations.

Spot carrying out contact-free assessments of patients in hospital, which is something that Spot has been doing off-screen too. In fact, Boston Dynamics has already proved that Spot can be a helpful companion in risky environments like Covid wards. The 4-legged robot can help medical staff monitor patients’ vital signs and reduce the risk of contamination.

In Canada Ontario Power Generation (OPG) acquired Spot in 2020. Mobile robot working at Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. A “robot dog” is drawing plenty of attention with its impressive and agile tricks. A four-legged, yellow marvel that can spin, walk, and climb to safely and efficiently perform inspections while being controlled by an intuitive tablet application.

Since being delivered to the station in November, the 25-kilogram robot has been undergoing training with OPG and the Boston Dynamics technical team to perform tasks normally performed exclusively by operators under challenging conditions. The state-of-the-art robot is already proving its use case at OPG, particularly through its ability to support inspections of areas normally inaccessible to human operators.

In December 2020, the robot was lent out to Pickering’s sister station, Darlington Nuclear, where it was put through its paces to help support inspections inside Unit 2’s vault. The robot was accompanied by Pickering’s Eddy Zhou, one of the lead nuclear operators working with Spot, and controlled remotely.

Outfitted with an electronic personal dosimeter, Spot was able to deftly navigate stairs, walkways, and other obstacles to help sniff out potential conventional or radiological hazards, all while being remotely controlled.

Naturally, OPG employees are excited about Spot’s potential uses. It can navigate hard-to-reach areas like boiler rooms, moderator rooms, pressure relief ducts, and fuel conveyor tunnels to perform important inspections, protecting workers from unnecessary safety risks while also saving on costs and time.

The robot’s four legs allow it to easily climb up stairs where other robots cannot. It can also sense and avoid obstacles and even open up doors.

Pickering’s Spot is currently equipped with a 360-degree, high-resolution camera that relays valuable information and visuals to station staff. Its abilities could be expanded in the future as OPG collaborates with Boston Dynamics to add more useful features, including potentially a robotic arm or infrared cameras.

SOURCE: Boston Dynamics, Hyundai, OPG

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