Google’s robot dog ‘Spot’ has received his first experience in canine rivalry, after the mechanized pet got ‘trash-barked’ by an agitated terrier unwilling to surrender his turf to the suspicious intruder.
Our canine friends’ decision to fight alongside us is shown in the video above, filmed by venture capitalist and Tesla Motors board member Steve Jurvetson. It shows a small dog, yapping, jumping, and running in circles when presented with Boston Dynamics’ quadrupedal Spot robot.
You might think that the dog in question is simply stimulated by something it doesn’t understand, a clanking, walking, hopping figure that looks like a dog, but is certainly not a dog. But this dog is special. Cosmo — the terrier that appears to be the star of the video — probably knows more about robotics than you.
Cosmo belongs to Andy Rubin, the co-founder of Android, and previous manager of Google’s robotics program. Cosmo has been around robots before, he’s watched as they’ve tried to copy both his species and ours, and — crucially — he’s seen the potential downfall they can bring to the planet. His barking may seem playful, but it is a warning.
Agencies/Canadajournal