Working like a dog

The fine motor skills of robots are now at a point to make them more viable as human helpers.

- Peter Griffin

There's a human-like robot called Atlas that has amassed millions of YouTube views showing off its athletic prowess. Watching Atlas run, jump and tumble lands you straight in the “uncanny valley", which describes robots that are incredibly human-like, but not quite realistic. I had the same feeling last week when I met Spot, the robotic dog that shares the same creator as Atlas, at IBM Research's labs in New York.

US company Boston Dynamics built them with the same aim in mind - to assume roles that are too dangerous, boring or expensive for humans to do. While Atlas isn't on sale yet, it will likely cost a small fortune when it is, and be deployed in search and-rescue and military operations.

Spot, which sells for US$75,000, was in hot demand as staff shortages and Covid restrictions put a dent in the workforce responsible for mundane but important jobs in health and safety and security, such as monitoring oil and gas infrastructure or patrolling industrial facilities in the dead of night. IBM has built an add-on for Spot that uses sensors and cameras to gather information about the real world.