The Robot Dog That Can Open a Door Is Even More Impressive Than It Looks

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. The renowned robot-maker Boston Dynamics released a new, and likely highly produced, video on Monday of its latest robot "dog," the SpotMini. From the looks of it, it's an incredible piece of machinery with remarkably lifelike movements, showing a level of dynamism and coordination between its body and software that I've never seen before, and it certainly left some people at least slightly worried that we're nearing a future in which robots will be able to let themselves out of the lab. In the video, a little robot dog prances over to a door, only to realize it has no hands and can't open it. A few seconds later, a larger Spot robot dog that has an articulated arm with a grabber for a hand where its head should be emerges from around a corner.