Robotic dog will be on patrol in Pompeii

Enlarge (credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii)

The nearby volcano blackened the sky and swallowed the city in clouds of ash; centuries later, robot dogs now prowl the ruins, guarding the city's dead against the ravages of time.

That's not a movie plot. It's what's actually happening at the 2,000-year-old Roman ruins of Pompeii, in Southern Italy. Boston Dynamics' robot dog, Spot, will help archaeologists and preservation crews by patrolling the 66-hectare site for signs of erosion, damage, and looting.

They're good dogs, Brent"

The volcanic ash that buried Pompeii in 79 CE turned a thriving Roman coastal city into a well-preserved tomb-and a time capsule. Today, the archaeological site is one of the most famous in the world, and it continues to reveal new glimpses of life in a cosmopolitan Roman city during the empire's heyday, like an ancient fast-food counter excavated in 2020.

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