WTF?! Boston Dynamics' Spot the dog has been around for years, during which time it's had about as many jobs as Homer Simpson. Now, the company is testing a way for the robotic quadruped to help delivery drivers move packages from a vehicle to the door.
Boston Dynamics has posted a video of Spot on a route with a delivery driver. After it hops out of the back of a van, the driver loads parcels onto a conveyor belt attached to the robot's back.
Following a remarkably smooth walk to a front door and up some steps, Spot leans forward and a package is moved down the conveyor onto the ground. It then walks to the next house to drop off another delivery.
Boston Dynamics' Spot product manager Paige Miller says that not only will this make delivering parcels less strenuous for humans, but it could also allow drivers to prepare the next delivery while Spot is delivering its cargo. Whether companies consider the robot's $75,000 price worth it is another matter.
"For every three packages delivered via Spot, we think we can add another package to the van," Miller says. "Spot can carry two 16x12x10-inch parcels, and we think that will capture at least 60 percent of the average van's packages."
The package falls several inches from the conveyor to the ground – it's not exactly delicate. But Miller says work has been done to ensure delivery is "soft" and Spot has delivered a carton of eggs "to make sure we were demonstrating the necessary level of package care."
The video ends with two Spots getting out of a van. One is on wheels, presumably allowing it to travel further and faster for its deliveries.
Boston Dynamics writes that eventually, autonomous vehicles could even transport entire fleets of Spot delivery robots in some areas, which brings up more questions about humans being replaced by automation.
"So much of logistics is already automated, but we believe that the final frontier of logistics automation is that last 50 feet," says Marco da Silva, Vice President and General Manager for Spot at Boston Dynamics. "We've done things to automate inside of the hub, inside of sort facilities, but now we're trying to bridge the gap to the final mile."
Boston Dynamics says it is actively seeking logistics partners to help work out the details of how last-mile automation scales, and it is already in talks with major logistics companies about testing Spot as a last-mile delivery solution. It's aiming for a full pilot project in which Spot works with a delivery driver to deliver 200 packages a day, five days a week.
Spot has had many jobs in its time: a bomb squad observation device, cleaner and gardener, guard dog, the military, pizza delivery/seagull fighter, factory inspector, and more. It was even tested delivering packages all the way back in 2017.