Spot the Dog (source: BostonDynamics.com

 

Spot the Dog—the robotic viral sensation known for opening doors, climbing steps with ease, and even taking clean dishes out of the dishwasher—has just landed a full-time gig as an inspector at an oil and gas company in Norway.

At some point this year, the Boston Dynamics robot will begin patrolling Aker BP’s oil and gas production vessel at the Skarv field in the Norwegian Sea, Bloomberg reports. There, it will run inspections, look for hydrocarbon leaks, and put together reports based on the data it collects.

Aker BP, which is highly invested in digitizing the oil and gas industry, wants to use Spot to make offshore operations safer, the company said during a presentation of the robot in Oslo today. According to Bloomberg, Aker BP will run the tests with software controlled by its parent company.

“These things never get tired, they have a larger ability to adapt and to gather data,” Kjetel Digre, Aker BP’s senior vice president for operations, told Bloomberg. CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik hinted that he was “pretty sure” more robots will eventually join the operation.

Boston Dynamics has been making Spot available for commercial lease since September 2019. In that time, a Massachusetts police department has also hired Spot to join its bomb squad, prompting some pushback from the American Civil Liberties Union.

On its website, Boston Dynamics promotes Spot for use in construction, public safety, oil and gas applications, and even entertainment. That said, this definitely won’t be the last time a robot dog lands a job.

Source: https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/robots/a30872342/spot-boston-dynamics-norwegian-oil-rig/

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