Spot goes free in a factory in the latest Boston Dynamics video

Spot, the world’s most famous four-legged robot, sometimes looks more like an animatronic entertainer than an industrial machine. But the creators of Boston Dynamic want to remind the world in a new video that this thing can work too.

The new Spot, titled “No Time To Dance”, shows the quadruped robot performing a range of tasks in an industrial environment. Spot takes readings from gauges, uses an infrared camera to scan certain equipment, and generates work orders for human employees. And, yes, then it also does a little dance.

It’s a nifty video – a testament to Boston Dynamics’ ability to make a robot that’s been tested for use by both the military and law enforcement look cute and harmless. (And to be fair: he is safe. It’s just the ways humans might use it that are concerning.)

The video is really a way to show off a bunch of small but useful upgrades Boston Dynamics is announcing for Spot: the robot’s five stereo cameras now produce color images; its tablet controller has been upgraded to a Samsung unit with a larger screen, longer battery life, and rugged casing; it has a new charging module; and it features a new system-on-chip for faster on-device AI processing and 5G compatibility. (For the greedy among you: the module is an Nvidia Jetson Xavier NX with – if BD uses normal loading – 384 CUDA cores, 48 ​​Tensor cores and 6 Arm processors.)

Again, this is all to remind you that Spot is a tool, not a toy. And he is looking for work.

You can check out a detailed overview of the new features in the video below: