Astro the Robotic Dog
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Just as soon as we cover a poop-scooping robot, the fleshy beasts could be rendered obsolete by a new robot dog from researchers at Florida Atlantic University.\\xa0
Researchers took the SpotMini from Boston Dynamics, mounted a 3D printed Doberman pinscher head on it, and gave it a brain.\\xa0
Astro was outfitted with a deep neural network, or digital brain, and is being trained to act like a dog. It can understand simple commands like stand, go forward, stop and, the classic, sit.\\xa0
The 100-pound robot has more than a dozen onboard sensors, radar imaging, cameras and a directional microphone it uses to navigate. It also has a pair of kill-crazy digital eyes.\\xa0
Next, the researchers are working on training Astor to understand hand commands, detect colors, understand multiple languages and coordinate with drones. You can imagine a pack of these things autonomously coordinating search and rescue efforts with a swarm of drones.\\xa0
The dog will have facial recognition as well, being able to identify people as well as other dogs.\\xa0
Other potential missions include detecting guns, explosives and gun residue.\\xa0
Nothing on excretion yet. Maybe the Beetl can be retrofitted to clean up oil spots.\\xa0
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