
Boston Dynamics starts selling its Spot robot – for $74,500 - aspenmayer
https://venturebeat.com/2020/06/16/boston-dynamics-buy-spot-robot-74500/
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JoeAltmaier
Not unusual to pay such prices for industrial automation. But is Spot
ruggedized? Will it operate long-term in a factory or warehouse environment
(humidity, heat, spills, particulates, electrical discharges, fumes) with a
good MTBF?

Imagine a milling machine that leaks small metal chips over a radius of 3m.
Can spot walk thru this area without harm?

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montroser
I am both excited and also terrified that this future is upon us.

The progress Boston Dynamics have made here over the last couple of years has
been incredible to see.

But also, armies of these things could do quite some damage in the wrong
hands. And more realistically in the near term, this can only accelerate
automation and the inevitable trend of robots replacing humans at work.

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aspenmayer
Launch video:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmPruFdp3WA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmPruFdp3WA)

Spot on Boston Dynamics Store ($1000 fully-refundable deposit required at
checkout, shipping 6-8 weeks):

[https://shop.bostondynamics.com/spot](https://shop.bostondynamics.com/spot)

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aspenmayer
I see a future where aerial drones pair with quadroped and wheeled variants to
do many of the jobs people now do; mostly repetitive jobs involving moving
objects from A to B and stacking them. If a drone can do that, it should.

That being said, with the right financing, you might not need to hire (as
many) employees now that general purpose products like this are on the market.

People should be freed up to do tasks that require decision making which is
not yet automated. Tasks that can be automated should be. Human time should be
worth more than money.

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m463
oh there is another thread:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23540941](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23540941)

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redis_mlc
I was at SVLUG for the Willow Garage talk back in the day.

Their robot could fold clothes, pickup a pizza, fetch a beer, etc.

Everybody was so excited about getting their own personal robot, until the
price was announced at $440,000 each.

So many jaws dropped. :)

(Their robot was intended for school classes where they were in use several
hours per day.)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_Garage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_Garage)

