#HTE

Hyundai’s Doctor-Headed Dog-Bot

You may remember that Hyundai released these crazy “walking car” renderings a couple years ago:

Released as concept art during CES 2019, they now seem a lot less crazy. This week Hyundai announced they’ve acquired Boston Dynamics, the robotics firm with plenty of know-how in making machines walk, and the carmaker will surely be availing themselves. “Today, we begin a new chapter of mobility with Boston Dynamics,” they write.

“The merger with Boston Robotics will allow us to merge and expand our future mobility concept including autonomous cars, logistics and Urban Air Mobility. To celebrate the occasion, we want to show our vision for ‘Progress for Humanity’ by presenting a whole new era of robots to the world. An era in which robots are fun, capable and visible companions for humankind that will take our current mobility services to new heights.”

The promotional video that accompanied the announcement shows a little of what they’re planning—and despite their statement above, none of what’s shown here is vehicle-based:

I’d say dancing robot thumbs-down, seeing-eye Spot thumbs-up, and I don’t know what to make of the doctor-headed dog-bot. I can’t decide who’d be more bothered by it, the patient or the doctor. Maybe the patient. Because after he comes in and gives you his sober assessment of your condition, you then have to watch this dog-thing jauntily trot out of the room, his little feet going clack-clack-clack-clack on the floor.