Here's Adam Savage with a Spot Robot that Boston Dynamics gave him for a year to test out.
Intro video with Spot right out of the box.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/k7s1sr4JdlI
A more informative video in which Adam shows how to steer Spot and some of the basic autonomy built in.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/R-PdPtqw78k
For those (like Elon) who can't get enough Spot, here's a Boston Dynamics marketing video
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/wlkCQXHEgjA
You can start to see why SpaceX might want a Spot at the Boca launch site. He can traverse rough terrain, go up and down stairs, avoid obstacles autonomously, right himself if he falls over and carry all kinds of visual and IR cameras, methane sniffers and other sensors. Spot's operator can direct him to look to see if valves are closed, if hoses are still connected, if pipes have ruptured and methane is leaking and all kinds of stuff like that. Spot is sealed and can operate in unbreathable atmospheres and shouldn't ignite clouds of methane. (But getting doused with liquid oxygen or nitrogen would probably kill him.) He can even prowl the property when the pad is cleared to detect people coming too close. He has terrain mapping abilities and can learn the layout of new places. So once he's seen a place, the operator can just tell Spot to go to a particular spot and he will figure out what route he wants to take to get there.
Intro video with Spot right out of the box.
A more informative video in which Adam shows how to steer Spot and some of the basic autonomy built in.
For those (like Elon) who can't get enough Spot, here's a Boston Dynamics marketing video
You can start to see why SpaceX might want a Spot at the Boca launch site. He can traverse rough terrain, go up and down stairs, avoid obstacles autonomously, right himself if he falls over and carry all kinds of visual and IR cameras, methane sniffers and other sensors. Spot's operator can direct him to look to see if valves are closed, if hoses are still connected, if pipes have ruptured and methane is leaking and all kinds of stuff like that. Spot is sealed and can operate in unbreathable atmospheres and shouldn't ignite clouds of methane. (But getting doused with liquid oxygen or nitrogen would probably kill him.) He can even prowl the property when the pad is cleared to detect people coming too close. He has terrain mapping abilities and can learn the layout of new places. So once he's seen a place, the operator can just tell Spot to go to a particular spot and he will figure out what route he wants to take to get there.