Robot dogs have come a very long way since Sony kind of first introduced them to the world in the form of Aibo, a cute robotic dog that felt more like a demonstration of their technology more so than anything. Things have evolved since where we’re starting to see more robot “dogs”, like Boston Dynamics’ Spot.
It seems that Xiaomi has decided that they too want to get into robotics as they have since unveiled their own robot dog – the CyberDog. This CyberDog is more akin to Spot than to Aibo. It is a quadruped robot that comes with hardware features like Intel’s RealSense technology to help sense what’s around it and to navigate and avoid obstacles.
The built-in cameras can also be used to identify posture, human faces, and pick out individuals in a group, which is kind of cool, but it’s creepy as it gives off Terminator-like vibes. It can also accept payloads as heavy as 3kg, meaning that it can be used to transport certain goods and items.
Xiaomi will be creating 1,000 units of the CyberDog where it will be sold primarily to engineers, robotics enthusiasts, and Xiaomi fans. Surprisingly it doesn’t cost too much either at 9,999 yuan, which is roughly $1,500 after conversion. It’s not exactly cheap, but for a robot dog that costs the price of a flagship smartphone in this day and age, it’s downright affordable.
Filed in . Read more about Xiaomi. Source: techcrunch