Robots may soon become omnipresent all over the world, they can soon drive cars, check in customers in a hotel, assist the U.S. military and now, even help Santa deliver Christmas presents as robotic reindeer.
Google's very own robotic company known as Boston Dynamics recently released a video just in time for the holidays featuring its Spot robotic dogs that are seen gracefully prancing around a snow-free ground, readily pulling along a sleigh.
This quadruped robot is powered by hydraulics, where Spot has recently joined in training exercises with the United States marines that could be a potential game changer when it comes to military capabilities where this moving robot can traverse through different kinds of terrain.
Prior to Spot, Boston Dynamics released the Big Dog robot, which appears to be a headless, creepy robodog straight from Terminator, and as for Spot, this robot still does not appear any less terrifying at all.
Engineers from Boston Dynamics are specialists in advanced robotic technology where the company collaborates with the United States Army and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Spot, that is featured in this terrifying Christmas video is the smaller version of the Big Dog robot.
Netizens revealed mixed reactions from these robotic reindeer leaning more on paranoia and dystopian as opposed to heartwarming where researchers point out a phenomenon known as "uncanny valley" which involves that any robot that appears more life like or more human, people would feel more fearful and uneasy about them.
This fear can hold true originating from science fiction such as Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" where in modern day scenarios, scientists and engineers are now creating robots that are more and more becoming integrated in real life.
Spot and Big Dog are not only the ones included in the company's roster of equally fearsome, dystopian robotics, there is also the faster Cheetah robot, the SandFleabot that can leap, the humanoid Atlas bot and the RiSE bot that can crawl on walls that is also fitted, complete with micro claws.