BOSTON DYNAMICS is expanding its lineup of robotic dogs with a model that can self-charge. Spot Enterprise comes with a charging dock that allows the robot to replenish its batteries without the help of humans. As such, it can operate in remote or dangerous areas for longer.

Spot Enterprise has upgraded hardware that bolsters safety and communications, according to the company. The robot can carry out actions autonomously across a wider area than the previous model and operators can quickly retrieve large data sets from it. Boston Dynamics says it expanded Spot Enterprise’s WiFi support and increased the flexibility of the robot’s payload ports.

Along with Spot Enterprise, Boston Dynamics announced a browser-based system called Scout that allows users to operate Spot remotely. It allows people to control the robot manually or run pre-programmed autonomous actions with a simple user interface.

The company also announced Spot Arm, a robotic arm that can grasp, lift, carry, place and drag a range of objects manually or semi-autonomously. The arm can help Spot to open and shut valves, turn handles and knobs and pull levers, which will allow it to open doors. The robot can also be equipped with a thermal imaging payload that has 30x optical zoom.

Boston Dynamics says it has sold more than 400 Spot Explorers since it opened commercial sales in June. While it’s only selling the robots to companies for now, it plans to make Spot available for home use someday.

Last year, Boston Dynamics announced that Spot would be available to the public — at least for those with US$75,000 lying around.

At the time, the company made it clear that Spot’s development would continue in response to customer feedback.

It appears that the latest iteration of the quadruped is the result of that early feedback. Now that more than 400 Spot units are operating in the real-world, Boston Dynamics has compiled plenty of data on how to make the robot better.

Automatic charging was a highly-requested feature. Spot Enterprise comes with a charging dock that the quadruped returns to periodically to top off its batteries.

Think of it like a Roomba that automatically returns to its charging station as needed. This allows Spot to operate in remote locations for longer periods of time since human operators don’t need to intervene.

(SD-Agencies)