NetEase Technology News, June 17, according to foreign media reports, on Tuesday, local time in the United States, Boston Dynamics announced that it will start selling the four-legged robot Spot to the American company. This robot can climb stairs and traverse rugged terrain.

Enterprises can purchase the Spot Explorer development kit for $74,500 on shop.bostondynamic ics.com. Spot Explorer includes a robot, two batteries, a battery charger, a tablet controller, a robot housing, a power supply housing, and a Python client package for the Spot API.

Boston Dynamics will also sell various additional components for Spot, and customers will get software updates "when available." The company provides free shipping for a limited time. shop.bostondynamic ics.com currently says that Spot Explorer will ship within 6 to 8 weeks.

The sale of Spot marks that the company founded in 1992 has achieved several new milestones: This is the first time that a company can directly purchase Boston Dynamics’ robots, and Spot is also the company’s first online sales product. Spot is currently only sold in the United States for commercial and industrial purposes, but the company hopes to expand to more markets this year.

A Boston Dynamics spokesperson said: "We plan to produce approximately 1,000 Spots next year, but we can increase production based on demand. We are exploring the possibility of achieving overseas sales this year." The company initially planned to complete the production of 1,000 Spots by mid-2020 , But the outbreak of the New Crown epidemic disrupted this schedule.

Through Boston Dynamics' shopping portal, users can only purchase up to two Spots. If you want more, the company has two other pricing levels: academic (with discounts to accredited educational institutions) and enterprise (more sensors, software integration, communications infrastructure and robot fleet management). For larger-scale procurement and third-party solutions, you can directly contact their sales team.

The outbreak provided Boston Dynamics with the opportunity to market its robots. As companies reopen, they urgently need technology that can limit human contact. In April of this year, Boston Dynamics opened its medical robot toolkit, after the company deployed Spot to help the hospital remotely triage patients. The Spot robot is equipped with an iPad and a two-way radio for video conferencing. Spot's modular platform (mounting rails, payload ports and SDK) makes it stand out from the crowd.

Boston Dynamics designed Spot to "go to places that other robots cannot reach and perform a wide range of tasks." Thanks to its additional components, Spot can be reconfigured according to various use cases.

Spot previously only offered short-term leases in Boston Dynamics' early adopter program. Through this program, more than 150 Spot robots are deployed in commercial and research facilities at home and abroad. The company said it will continue to lease Spot robots to selected international market customers through the program.

Regarding the question of whether to sell Spot to the police department, a Boston Dynamics spokesperson said: "To some extent, our robots are designed to undertake tasks that may pose a danger to the personal safety of public safety officials, such as checking suspicious packages. Or in response to hazardous material incidents, police departments can also purchase Spot. However, they are not designed to replace police officers or perform police officers’ jobs. Our standard terms prohibit the use of robots for personal injury or intimidation, which applies to All customers."

In addition to Spot, Boston Dynamics also sells Pick, a robot that can carry boxes, thanks to the 3D vision system. In addition, the company is also developing Handle and Atlas robots. Handle should be available for sale in the next two years, but Atlas' commercialization plan is still far away. (Little)

Source: NetEase Technology Report, translated by Google Translate