Italy's Pompeii Tests New Guard Dog -- A Robot Named Spot

Under the amused gaze of many tourists, a robot dog wanders the ancient stone alleys of Pompeii's famous archaeological park. Meet Spot, a friendly, yellow-and-black remote-controlled creature with a gangly gait who looks like a dog crossed with an insect -- all wrapped up in a robot's body. Spot's current mission at Pompeii is to inspect hard-to-access areas of the sprawling ruins, to collect data and alert his handlers to safety and structural problems. "Particularly underground structures where safety conditions won't allow (staff) to enter, such as in the park's many very narrow and dangerous tunnels," Pompeii's general director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, told AFP. His purvey includes surveying tunnels dug out in clandestine excavations, which Zuchtriegel said "unfortunately still take place in the area".