Boston Dynamics Dog Is Now on Sale, and Domestic Purchasing Agents Have Already Listed It for 800,000 Yuan Per Unit

The internet-famous Boston Dynamics Dog is now for sale! The price tag is $74,500 per unit, but it is currently only available to businesses, with a maximum of two units sold at a time.

Dancing, somersaults, herding sheep, pulling rickshaws... Spot, the omnipotent and ubiquitous Boston Dynamics dog, often dominates the WeChat Moments.

Now, the robot dog Spot, which was once "only available to be viewed from afar but not purchased", has finally hit the shelves and is officially on sale!

The official price is 74,500 US dollars (about 528,400 RMB).Orders are shipped within 6 to 8 weeks of being placed, and the company offers free shipping for a limited time.

Only available for sale to businesses, purchase limit two

Previously, Boston Dynamics Dog was only available for rental, and although it had stated plans for sale, the plan was never implemented.

Today, the company's official website finally announced thatStarted selling the robot dog Spot to businesses.

Currently, the official website shop.bostondynamics.com  There are three products launched online, namely Explorer, Enterprise and Academic editions,But only the Explorer has a public price tag, and purchases are limited to two.

If you need to purchase the latter two versions, or purchase in larger quantities, you will need to consult separately.

For Spot Explorer,The company offers a complete developer toolkit.Includes Ben the robot dog, two batteries, a battery charger, a tablet controller, a robot housing, a power housing, and a Python client package for the Spot API.

In addition to these basic components,The company also sells various add-ons for Spot.For example, lidar, edge CPU, etc., but at first glance, the price is really high.

A detailed list of add-on prices (all I can see is "unaffordable"):

• Off-the-shelf battery: $4620

• Off-the-shelf charger: $1,650

• In-stock GXP, regulated power supply and Ethernet port: $1,275

• Spot CAM, color panoramic and communication capabilities: $21,800

• In-stock CAM+, pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera for detailed inspections: $29,750

• LiDAR spot price: $18,450

• Stock EAP+, LiDAR with Stock CAM: $34,570

• Spot Core, a dedicated edge CPU for robotics computing: $3,925

• Spot Core AI, Edge GPU for advanced processing in robotics computing: $24,500

With its accessories, customers can reconfigure Spot to suit a variety of application scenarios, from improving efficiency to reducing safety risks.

Boston Dynamics also provides after-sales service.This includes $15,000 in extended warranty and expedited repair services.

First online sales, annual sales KPI 1000

For this company founded in 1992,The public sale of Spot marks two milestones.

First, this is the first time businesses can purchase Boston Dynamics robots outright.

Second, Spot became the company’s first product to be sold online.

Currently Spot is only sold in the United States for commercial and industrial use, but the company hopes to expand to more markets internationally this year.

A Boston Dynamics spokesperson said:“We plan to manufacture about 1,000 Spots over the next year, but we can increase production based on demand.We are exploring opportunities to achieve overseas sales this year.”

In fact, the company originally planned to complete the production of 1,000 Spots by mid-2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this plan.

Medical care, construction, energy mining, and other industries

However, this epidemic has also provided an opportunity for Spot's online sales. Currently, as companies are resuming work, they all hope to use technology to avoid human contact.

Boston Dynamics Dog has also provided remote triage services for patients in the medical field. The Spot robot is equipped with an iPad and a two-way radio, allowing doctors to talk to patients and assess their symptoms remotely without risking exposure to infection.

Boston Dynamics says that for every shift completed by the robots, at least one healthcare worker is saved from the risk of exposure to the coronavirus.

In addition to the medical field, they have also been thriving in other industries.

Boston Dynamics designed Spot to "go places other robots can't go and perform a wide range of tasks."

at present,Its main work includes measurement and data collection.For example, finding machine failures on oil drilling platforms and creating 3D maps of construction sites.

Work scenario 1: Construction site image acquisition 

Quebec construction company Pomerleau hired Spot to collect images at a 500,000-square-foot construction site.

In response to their needs,Boston Dynamics has equipped Spot with a 360° HD camera and an automatic tracking system.It can therefore identify and avoid obstacles and people, stand up on its own after falling, move in any direction, and change direction quickly.

Its tracking system is an ideal tool to help it explore confined or hazardous areas, thus completely improving worker safety. In addition, efficiency is greatly improved.Using Spot to automatically collect 5,000 images per week can save about 20 hours of work.

Last November, Hensel Phelps, a well-known American construction company, began to cooperate with Boston Dynamics. During the construction of the main terminal of Denver International Airport, Spot was used to record the progress of the work site, MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing), etc.

According to the company's chief engineer, the addition of Spot has improved data collection efficiency and security.It realizes automatic laser scanning and 360-degree image acquisition, reducing the risk of project delays.

Work scenario 2: Tracking construction progress 

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory CoSTAR team, by integrating their own autonomy, perception and communication framework,Enables Spot to quickly and autonomously navigate difficult underground terrain.

Use Spot robots to track construction progress, monitor production environments, and provide situational awareness in environments such as power generation facilities, decommissioned nuclear power plants, factory floors, construction sites, and research labs.

  Work scene 3: entertainment and life 

In addition to these hardcore tasks, Spot can also be used in entertainment and life scenarios, such as performing on stage or in theme parks.

We have previously introduced Spot, who served as a park security guard during the epidemic."Boston Dynamics robot dog enters park as security guard to disperse crowds".

In short, it seems that Spot, as a star product, has broad prospects in commercial use.

Any business can buy it, and the police are also OK

Boston Dynamics officials said any company is eligible to purchase Spot.

When asked whether Spot would be sold to police, a government spokesperson responded:

To the extent that our robots are designed to take on tasks that may prove dangerous to human safety for public safety officers, like inspecting a suspicious package or responding to hazmat incidents, yes, Spot is available for purchas

Spot was designed to handle high-risk tasks to protect human safety, such as inspecting suspicious packages or handling hazardous materials. As long as it meets this criteria, there is no problem selling it to the police.

The official spokesperson also added, "Spot will not replace the police, nor is it designed to assist the police in performing their duties. No one may use a robot to physically harm or intimidate others."

Boston Dynamics' ambitions: today, tomorrow, and the future

As Spot starts to be sold to business users, its commercialization will become more and more common, and the company is also expanding into more markets. In addition to Spot, Boston Dynamics is also developing product lines such as Pick, Handle and Atlas.

American technology website VentureBeat interviewed Boston Dynamics CEO Marc Raibert in November last year.

Raibert divides the company's robot product line into today (Spot), tomorrow (Handle) and the future (Atlas) according to time.

Handle is a mobile version of Pick (Pick uses a 3D vision system to move or carry boxes), and is called "Tomorrow" because Pick is still in the prototype stage. The Handle is expected to be released in 2021.

But Atlas, defined as a "Future" robot, is still in the prototype stage, so Boston Dynamics does not consider commercializing it.

So, would you like to have one of these versatile Boston Dynamics dogs?

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