Boston Dynamics announced on Wednesday, September 9 the launch of the marketing of Spot, its quadruped robot, in member countries of the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Sold in the United States since last June for a price of 74,500 dollars, the robot has been very successful according to the start-up, since its sales have doubled in three months. Sold as a kit consisting of the robot, two batteries, a charger, a control tablet and a power supply box, it is also offered with an extended warranty including a quick repair service and updates. According to Venturebeat, the company has leased or sold, to date, 250 robots.
Several experiments in Europe
In search of new use cases, the company, a spin-off of MIT, has multiplied experiments such as the use of Spot to inspect the anomalies of an oil rig in the North Sea, to access dangerous areas on a construction site in Montreal or as part of tests carried out with the Massachusetts police.
Calling its “early adopters” program a success, the start-up has in fact already deployed its solution on the Old Continent. It accompanies this announcement with various examples such as the one tested by the architectural firm Foster + Partners, which used Spot to monitor in real time the rehabilitation of Battersea Power Station, in London, or the company Merck KGaA, in Germany, which called on Spot to inspect an exhaust gas heat treatment plant.
Boston Dynamics is also announcing a new charging station for Spot, scheduled for early 2021, as well as a robotic arm – a product completely independent of the quadruped robot – which is also due to launch next year.
Aude Chardenon
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