Is it cruel to kick a robot dog?

Meet Spot, the 160 lbs dog robot that can run, climb stairs and has an uncanny ability to maintain its balance. Designed by robotics company Boston Dynamics, there were heated discussions online when Google bought the company in 2013, with accusations that Google had gone against its "Don't be evil" motto by purchasing a company that had worked with the U.S. military and had close ties with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Google motto 2004: Don't be evil Google motto 2010: Evil is tricky to define Google motto 2013: We make military robots But more recently, the conversation flared up again, most of it stemming from the video released this week showing Boston Dynamics employees trying to kick Spot over in order to show how robust it is. The video spread around the Internet like wildfire and raised questions about ethics, the future of robotics and Google's intentions. As robots begin to act and look more and more like living things, it's increasingly hard not to see them in that way.