Spot the robo-dog has another trick up his sleeve in a new video where he can be seen twerking to Bruno Mars' dance-worthy hit 'Uptown Funk.' Boston Dynamics, the secretive firm behind the four-legged droid, released the video on Tuesday. If you thought humans were safe from the impending robot takeover on the dance floor, you might want to think again. In the minute-long clip, Spot can be seen stepping and moving almost perfectly in time with the music. He shimmies back and forth across the floor while snapping his claw hand to the tune. At one point, he even twerks his rear-end up and down, then moonwalks. And in a testament to Spot's precise motor control, the robot performs his own version of the popular Running Man dance. Spot Mini, which Boston Dynamics has teased for several years, is a more compact version of its larger counterpart, Big Dog. It's designed to last for 90 minutes on a single charge and can lift large items, navigate around obstacles, as well as open doors. Boston Dynamics said it hopes to have Spot up and running for a 'variety of applications' by the second half of 2019. The video comes just a few days after the startup published a new video showing how it put Spot to work. The clip shows the sensor-equipped device touring several construction sites. Spot has previously been shown navigating obstacles and climbing stairs with ease. But it seems the robotics firm is preparing Spot for use in the workplace. 'We have begun field testing the Spot robot for commercial users around the world,' Boston Dynamics said. After an initial mapping run, Spot autonomously navigated two dynamic construction sites in Tokyo and used a specialized payload for surveying work progress.' An additional camera in its hand lets Spot do even more detailed inspection work on-site,' the firm added. The spot is currently in preproduction and the firm expects to build about 100 of the robots starting next year.
In the video, Spot can be seen strolling around the Takenaka Corp. and Fujita Corp. construction sites. He climbs up and downstairs, over obstacles such as wood planks on the floor, as well as around corners. Spot can also move in reverse and in a circle. At some points, he deploys his claw arm, as if to lift a nearby cardboard box. The robotic hand is fitted with a camera to perform inspections. The spot is just under three feet tall and has a 3D vision, as well as 17 joints to help it move nimbly. Boston Dynamics CEO Marc Raibert said earlier this year that he hopes Spot can be used in a variety of industries, including construction, delivery, security and home assistance. Raibert also denied sceptics' beliefs that his firm's robots would one day be used to kill - insisting that they're more likely to take on the role of a servant in the future. 'We think about that, but that's also true for cars, aeroplanes, computers, lasers,' Raibert said.
'Every the technology you can imagine has multiple ways of using it. If there's a scary part, it's just that people are scary. I don't think the robots by themselves are scary.' It comes as the firm just yesterday released an eye-popping video of its Atlas humanoid robot running and jumping over objects. The firm said the robot's software has been updated giving it the new features.' The control software uses the whole body including legs, arms and torso, to marshal the energy and strength for jumping over the log and leaping up the steps without breaking its pace.' Atlas uses computer vision to locate itself with respect to visible markers on the approach to hit the terrain accurately '.