Robot
Hyundai employs Spot robot dog at Crete factory
That was very Black Mirror! Last Monday, the 7th, Airton Cousseau, CEO of Hyundai Motor South and Central America, presented the Hyundai Creta 2025, explained the car's extensive changes and discussed its price of R$141,890 to R$189,990. Out of nowhere, however, he called a robot dog onto the stage!
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Not everyone has heard of Boston Dynamics, an American robotics engineering and research company. But many people have seen the series Black Mirror, which has been successful, season after season, on Netflix with futuristic episodes, a lot of allusions to the failure of communication and understanding between people, as well as problems with the use of technology. And one of the scariest devices shown in the series were, precisely, robot dogs armed with machine guns and similar things.
In real life, the robot dog is one of the creations of Boston Dynamics and has a name: Spot (Mancha, in Portuguese), just like a dog's name. It is not possible to adopt it: the basic Spot costs US$74,500, or R$416 thousand in direct conversion, and is only offered to companies and government agencies. And it has a monitoring and security function, but not necessarily something militarized or scary.
Can be controlled via tablet, but also navigates in autonomous mode, on its own, Spot sees and hears the environment through 4K, infrared and thermography cameras, as well as ultra-sensitive microphones.
Its limbs and neck have strange articulation, with movements that resemble those of a teenager from the film The Exorcist (1973), but they serve to ensure that the electromechanical quadruped has easy access around obstacles and can easily correct its trajectory, in case of a problem.
Robust as a toolbox, it can carry up to 14 kg of materials.
All of this is used to inspect production lines, looking for industrial failures, or even security breaches and structural risks. In practice, the robot dog uses technology and programming with Artificial Intelligence to keep an eye on the safety of factories or sensitive locations, being able to access places that are not healthy for humans.
In 2021, the Hyundai Group purchased control of Boston Dynamics for US$1.1 billion. The Japanese group Softbank, former owner of the robot developer, maintains 20% of the ownership, while the South Korean company paid billions of dollars for the other 80%.
The manufacturer uses Boston Dynamics projects as part of its Progress of Humanity line, as it likes to call activities parallel to the development of common cars. This division includes Robotics (where Spot fits in), but also other furniture and prosthetics projects, Urban Air Mobility (drones and e-VTOLs), Future Mobility (autonomous vehicles and robot taxis) and HTWO (hydrogen solutions) .
In addition to selling its robotic solutions to companies and industries around the world, Boston Dynamics also supplies its products to the owner Hyundai.
The brand's factory in Singapore has used Spot as a guardian of the assembly line, to know if all vehicle production is going well, and if there are any serious failures that could result in loss of productivity, as well as a risk for workers. humans.
Cousseau explains that all of this helps to increase quality while drastically reducing costs. The inspection process, which is at the end of the production line, becomes just a matter of checking aesthetic details, without major flaws.
Furthermore, the robot dog can also be used as a first responder in possible dangerous situations, as it can access obstructed areas and is immune to leaks, electrical risks and very loud sounds. After giving the OK for the general safety of the area, Spot allows the first firefighters and health professionals to enter.