“Spot” Gets a New Doghouse: Ground Robots and Drones Provide End-to-End Autonomous Inspections

Israeli-based Percepto is known for their drone-in-a-box solution, enabling fully autonomous inspections and other commercial drone applications.  Now, Percepto has partnered with robotics experts Boston Dynamics, creating a base for their ground robot, Spot.  Spot’s new base “provides the robotic dog with capabilities that enables a full autonomous inspection cycle in outdoor remote environments, dramatically increasing speed of emergency response and protecting workers from hazardous situations,” says a press release.

“…Percepto Base for Spot the solution offers an end-to-end autonomous cycle for outdoor inspection, empowering industrial facilities and isolated substations to keep Spot protected even in extreme weather conditions, safe from damage or theft, and always ready for action.”

Percepto’s Sparrow drone-in-a-box solution has been used by Florida Power & Light for a few years: now, Florida Power & Light will integrate spot with drones and other robotic tools for outdoor autonomous inspection as part of their hurrican recovery plan.  All of the robots are managed by Percepto’s Autonomous Inspection and Monitoring (AIM) platform, and the company plans to add more solutions to the list of AIM integrated robots.

The AIM software controls open and closure of the Base remotely. “Percepto have applied the same any-weather approach used for their hurricane-tested drone-in-a-box to create a safe and weather-proof enclosure for Boston Dynamics’ Spot, allowing the robot to be deployed at any substation independently under all weather conditions from desert heat to winter snow storms.”

“Spot is equipped with Percepto’s dual payload of 4K and thermal cameras, as well as Percepto’s onboard module. This enables live streaming during missions via secure LTE connection, not limited by Wi-Fi coverage.”

“Percepto are proud to build upon our autonomous inspection offering that began with Sparrow, the most widely deployed drone-in-a-box in the world. The Base for Spot uses the same sophisticated and trusted AIM software to integrate remote autonomous inspections from the sky to the ground, inside and out, for a holistic and accurate picture in real time,” said Dor Abuhasira, CEO and Co-founder Percepto. “A team of inspection robots on site without the need for human supervision is the future of safer, more reliable inspection and we are excited to add further solutions to our offering.”

“Early this year, we released a charging dock for Spot, unlocking the opportunity for customers to deploy remote inspection solutions with Spot. The Percepto Base for Spot widely expands the potential use cases for Spot by offering superb protection from the elements,” said Michael Perry, Vice President of Business Development at Boston Dynamics. “The enclosure, combined with Percepto AIM, provides our mutual clients the ability to automatically and autonomously deploy Spot in isolated but vital locations regardless of the weather conditions.”