Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot dog may not be able to bark, but it can communicate with humans in complete sentences, thanks to the help of Generative AI. Levatas, an AI-software company, partnered up with Boston Dynamics to give Spot the ability to understand and respond to humans through voice technology by integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The robots are used by several industries like manufacturing and logistics to execute long to-do lists and collect large data sets that only technical people can comprehend. With the help of ChatGPT, the robot dogs gain intelligence to interpret and answer questions from humans, which helps them better understand this data. Users can ask the robotic dog anything and expect a clear answer. An example of this is when someone asked Spot how many inspections its next mission would have, and the robot responded by saying it had 20 inspections.
This application of AI technology on Spot has led the NYC Mayor, Eric Adams, to declare the deployment of Boston Dynamic’s robot dogs to accomplish dangerous tasks such as bomb threats and hazardous waste inspections. Furthermore, Spot can effectively provide its data and results to people other than technical experts.
In addition to Spot, a beta version of chat.D-ID was launched by an Israeli startup called D-ID. This particular web application allows its users to communicate with ChatGPT through an avatar which may soon become customizable. There have already been several reactions to this feature shared in Twitter, where people expressed their amazement and surprise after talking to the robotic dog.
Levatas’ CEO, Chris Nielsen, is looking to integrate GPT-4, ChatGPT’s advanced language model, to help the Spot robots create solutions to difficult problems. Nielsen believes that these robots can explore different places and report back about safety, security, and maintenance to its human handlers.
Levatas is an AI-software company based in San Francisco, led by CEO and founder, Chris Nielsen. Nielsen has a background in physics and mathematics, with an engineering degree from Stanford. He has been a software developer for fifteen years and is the founder of both Weever and Netlabs, two leading tech companies.
Boston Dynamics is a robotics firm founded at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. It is best known for its innovative humanoid robots, though its robotic products also range from animalistic robots to quadrupedal robots that can walk and climb stairs. The company has developed robots for the military and multiple large corporations. Their robot Spot is one of the most popular products, capable of being used as a guard, carrying out tasks in dangerous environments, and providing people with data they need.
