Boston Dynamics Expands Spot Robot with New Cam 2 and Multimodal Inspection Tools

• Spot Cam 2 adds 4K PTZ optics, radiometric thermal, and spherical imaging with new support for acoustic sensors.
• 5.1 software introduces unified multi-modal inspections combining thermal, acoustic, and visual data in a single workflow.

Boston Dynamics has introduced Spot Cam 2, a new camera system for its mobile robot, Spot. The upgraded system includes a 4K pan-tilt-zoom camera with 25x optical zoom, a radiometric thermal camera, and a wide-angle spherical lens. It also supports third-party acoustic imagers, offering more flexibility in how inspections are performed. Spot Cam 2 can be mounted on the front or rear of the robot and includes ultra-bright LED lights for dark environments.

Spot is also getting a software upgrade, with new inspection workflows, access features, and expanded tools for collecting and viewing inspection data. With version 5.1, users can now run multi-modal inspections that combine acoustic, thermal, and video data into a single action. Spot Cam 2 also supports thermal panorama capture, automatically stitching together a series of thermal images into a single inspection.

The update also allows Spot to move through certain automatic and access-controlled doors without using an arm, depending on how doors are configured on-site. According to Boston Dynamics, this feature has already enabled 2,500 door openings across 18 beta customer deployments. Version 5.1 also includes seven built-in dances and emotes that can be launched from the tablet for use in demos or public events.

🌀 Tom’s Take:

Thermal panoramas, acoustic support, and multi-modal workflows all push Spot further into practical, repeatable inspection territory.

Source: Boston Dynamics