Bedrock Detroit and Boston Dynamics start testing Spot robot dogs in downtown Detroit

Boston Dynamics/Spot

Bedrock Detroit is testing Boston Dynamics' Spot robots in downtown Detroit to see whether they can inspect buildings, patrol garages, map hard-to-reach areas and enter spaces that may be unsafe for people. Public testing could begin as early as the week after the October 7 report, under supervision, before any move to live deployment.

• Tasks under consideration: building inspection and security, parking-garage patrols, carrying packages that drones land on roofs into buildings, and mapping unsafe areas.
• Timeline: about six to eight months of preparation, then a supervised test mode for "another few months", and live deployment only if testing goes well.
• A wheeled robot with an arm is also being tested for litter pickup, which Bedrock says is "not yet in the market".
• The article does not say how many robots will be used. Bedrock calls itself "probably the first one" to deploy Spot downtown.