It’s been four years since the robot wizards at Boston Dynamics declared its dog-like Spot robot ready for the workplace.
In that time, the quadruped robot has been trialed in various roles at a number of firms, including for factory mapping at Ford, safety inspections at a Kia auto plant, and radiation surveys for Dominion Energy.
Its latest gig is at a Michelin facility in Lexington, South Carolina, which manufactures tires and light trucks. A video (top) released by Boston Dynamics on Wednesday shows Spot making its way around the site, carrying out various tasks as part of a pilot program.
“We were like kids at Christmas when we first got Spot,” said Wayne Pender, a reliability manager at Michelin whose job it is to ensure that all of the facility’s equipment is running at optimal efficiency.
Ryan Burns, also a reliability manager, said it’s important to get ahead of equipment failures in order to avoid a plant shutdown. Spot helps out by scanning 350 locations with a thermal camera to see if any parts are overheating or performing differently in some other way. Using specially designed software called Orbit, Spot then processes the data and sends it to to its operators for final analysis. If an anomaly is spotted, a human technician is sent out to review the situation before a final decision is made on how to respond.
“From a technician standpoint, Spot going out and doing these routes eliminates a mundane task that humans are doing,” Burns said. “By Spot finding these anomalies and these issues, it gives the technician more time to go out and plan and schedule how they’re going to fix the problem versus going out, identifying, then trying to plan and schedule everything.”
Burns added that it would be ideal to have more Spots at the facility so that the company can improve its inspection procedures, leading to enhanced efficiency and greater output.
Boston Dynamics is continuing to develop Spot and refine its capabilities through various pilot programs and partnerships in the U.S. and beyond.