By Jeff Utz, Class 601, 602,603, 612, 613, 614, 624, 725, 726, 802
Spot is a robot that reminds people of a dog. It will be used the Fire Department of New York to help find people in building collapses and other emergencies. It will help firefighters check out how strong a building is after it has collapsed or the building is smothering after a fire. Spot will take pictures of the area so firefighters can look around when it is too unsafe for people or the space too small for people. (Source: NY Post.)
Spot can also be used by different companies. It is used by SpaceX, the company that launches rockets and people to the International Space Station. It is used to patrol its launch site to make sure that there aren't people around the launch site when it is dangerous. And, after a test, the robot dog can go around, take pictures and measure the levels of dangerous gases as well as make sure there is enough oxygen in the air before humans can go in. This helps keep people safe while getting data that help SpaceX determined what caused their rockets to explode or fail, and use that information to make their spacecraft better. (Source: Primal Space Video. You can see the video below.)
Another use of Spot is at nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants have the disadvantage that there is a lot of nuclear radiation around. This radiation can cause lots of problems for humans, like cancer. So, people like to avoid it. Spot can be used to inspect areas where there is radiation and stick around to make repeated observations to see what is changing over time. Because Spot had cameras and other sensors, Spot can look around, and human operators can see what is happening. Spot can even come with a robotic arm which can grab and move things. (Source: Boston Dynamics, the company that makes the robot.)
