Boston Dynamics’ Robotic Device to Become a Salty Dog on Oil Rig

When you think of big oil rigs out in the middle of the North Sea you probably don’t think of dogs being there. Well, not robo-dogs anyway. I mean I don’t think they can swim just yet, but they will be patroling one of Aker BP’s rigs in the very near future.

Courtney Linder has a piece in popularmechanics.com this week that says Boston Dynamics has scored with this idea.

Spot, the internet-famous Boston Dynamics robot dog, just landed its first job at a Norwegian oil and gas company. The robot will survey an oil and gas production vessel, according to Bloomberg. Boston Dynamics is also testing drones and other robotics on Aker BP’s oil rigs.

Since last September, Boston Dynamics has made Spot available for commercial lease. This will be the second organization to take the robotics company up on the offer, after a bomb squad in Massachusetts.

“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.

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.

The robodog will offer safety in certain areas where humans have higher odds of being injured.

read more at popularmechanics.com