In one of the scariest moments in the movie Jurassic Park, a pair of intelligent Velociraptors, brought back to Earth by man’s hubris, defy an assumption about their limitations: They open a kitchen door.
Now imagine that the raptors are real, transformed into headless robot dogs that can negotiate stairs, fling open doors with their robotic claws and generally overcome the puny obstacles offered up by the human technicians at Boston Dynamics.
The robotics company posted a video last week, showing two of their yellow SpotMini robots helping each other enter a door.
Now the company has released a sequel in which a single 2.5-foot-tall (75 cm robot) robot is controlled by an unseen human driver who directs the robot claw to the door handle and issues a “Go” command.
Besides providing nightmare fuel for humankind, and plotlines for the bleak tech world TV show Black Mirror, the robots could also offer more positive benefits.
During a natural or human-made disaster, for instance, they could help navigate situations that would otherwise put people in danger.
Watch testing Robustness below