Desingh Lab Unpacks First Spot Robot from Boston Dynamics

Department of Computer Science & Engineering Assistant Professor Karthik Desingh recently unveiled the Department's first Spot Robot from Boston Dynamics. Spot is an agile mobile robot that navigates terrain with unprecedented mobility, allowing users to automate routine inspection tasks and data capture safely, accurately, and frequently.

Led by Desingh, the Robotics: Perception and Manipulation (RPM) Lab aim to build intelligent capabilities for the Spot Robot and future robots so they can sense, perceive, reason, and learn to manipulate objects in order to perform tasks in various domains (healthcare, climate change, environment conservation, etc.). The developed capabilities will enable the robots to interact more naturally with their human counterparts. The Spot Robot's ability to navigate complex terrains expands the research horizons beyond laboratory settings and steps into the real world. 

Check out the unboxing video of the robot, where the behaviors are from a human teleoperating it with a controller. This Spot Robot will be called “Hachi,” after the famous dog in Japan.