The automaker brought in some four-legged robots to help map out the factory floor. These robotic dogs can climb stairs, open doors, and get into tight spaces, and they could save their human colleagues time and money in the end.
This is a robotic version of man’s best friend.
These four-legged robots from Boston Dynamics were deployed to work at Ford Motor Company in Michigan.
We’re working on a way to get into tight spots in our plant,” said Mark Godreth, digital engineering manager at Ford Motor Company.
We nicknamed it Fluffy the Spotted Dog, and it was a brainstorming idea that we could put a 360-degree high-definition camera on it, and a laser scanner,” said Godrens.
Fluffy worked with an automated robot named Scott to create a 3D map of the factory floor.
Both of them have laser scanners, and they automatically go through the factory and then stop and scan and keep going and stop and scan for road signs like GPS,” says Godrens.
The fact that Momo can go where Scot can’t helps create a more complete map of the space, which can help engineers when they’re readjusting the floor plans used to produce new models.
In some of our terminal assembly areas, the facility changes every month,” says Godreth.
Depending on the job, various sensors can be custom-made for the dogs.
To manufacture chemicals, you need a gas gas sensor to detect if there is a leak in the environment so you can fix the leak more quickly,” says Michael Perry, vice president of business development for Boston Dynamics.
Perry says, “Other customers need a thermal imaging camera to see how some of their industrial equipment is operating and may also find that, oh, the machine is overheating and that could be a problem.
Keeping workers safe in a dangerous environment is one of the main benefits of using such robots.
So is collecting more kinds of data. Perry says, “We’re creating all these systems to interpret, collect and analyze big data. The problem is that we can only incorporate a very limited set of data into the system,” Perry says.
This robot, unlike a fixed sensor, can be programmed to go anywhere to collect data,” Perry said.
Boston Dynamics is currently leasing out the Spotted Dog, and the company that leases it can find out all sorts of ways to use it. For some people, this robot dog could become a very obedient dog, really.
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