Boston Dynamics will start selling its dog-like SpotMini robot in 2019

Re:Boston Dynamics will start selling its dog-like SpotMini ... by blacksmith_tb on Monday May 14, 2018 @11:52AM (#17066511)

Evocative of the opening scene of William Gibson's _Count Zero_[1]

"They set a Slamhound on Turner's trail in New Delhi, slotted it to his pheromones and the color of his hair. It caught up with him on a street called Chandni Chauk and came scrambling for his rented BMW through a forest of bare brown legs and pedicab tires. Its core was a kilogram of recrystallized hexogene and flaked TNT. "

1: http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/books/zero.asp

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Re:Boston Dynamics will start selling its dog-like SpotMini ... by gagege on Monday May 14, 2018 @12:50PM (#17067041)

There is also a "mechanical hound" that chases Montag in Fahrenheit 451 and a similar killer cyborg guard dog creature in Snow Crash.

Let's get some good fiction with optimistic views of robot animals, mmkay writers? ;)

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Re:Boston Dynamics will start selling its dog-like SpotMini ... by fixermark on Monday May 14, 2018 @01:13PM (#17067265)

That'd actually be the "rat thing" guard dog in Snow Crash. ;)

I can't remember the exact quote, but when someone comments on how horrible it is to cyberize a dog, its creator says something to the effect of "People keep saying that, but nobody asks the dog." Jump-cut to a couple pages from the point of view of the dog, which (relative to its past life on the street) is incredibly happy with its new function.

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