Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot goes on sale in Europe and Canada

Boston Dynamics this morning announced that it's bringing Spot robot to a number of new markets, following sales in the U.S. Interested parties in the European Union, U.K. and Canada can now purchase the technologically advanced quadrupedal robot.

Spot is Boston Dynamics' first commercially available product, building on a quarter century of pushing the boundaries of robotics for DARPA and beyond. The company has spent a good deal of time over the past couple of years demonstrating a factotum of different jobs for the bot, ranging from construction surveying to security.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put increased focus on the robotics sector, as companies are looking for a way to increase automation to keep the lights on, while reducing the risk of transmission. Boston Dynamics has used the opportunity to put Spot to work in a number of new scenarios, including teleoperation in hospitals.

Boston Dynamics' Spot finds a new career in telemedicine amid COVID-19 pandemic

Boston Dynamics notes a number of third-party partners designed to help improve the robot's functionality going forward, including Cognite, Energy Robotics, Clearpath Robotics and Reply. The company has long look to position the robot as a kind of platform, open to a variety of different tasks. The setup takes some of the onus off of Spot's creator to program new functionality and will hopefully demonstrate how capable the $74,500 robot (prices vary by market) can really be.

Additional markets will also have access to Spot through the company's limited Early Adopter Program. For more on Boston Dynamics and Spot, be sure to catch our interview with new CEO Rob Playter next week at Disrupt 2020.