A robot dog named'Spot' designed to sniff out bombs went into'sit mode' and refused to move during a live trial by Massachusetts police. Spot was created by Boston Dynamics and was on loan to the bomb squad in 2019 when the failed test happened, according to a report by OneZero. The bomb squad were called to a Walmart in Westboro, Massachusetts after employees spotted a suspicious'old brown briefcase' on a bin in the car park. Officers decided to have Spot examine the briefcase but when they turned him on he went into'sit mode' and wouldn't move - even after multiple reboots. Massachusetts Police were eventually able to get Spot to walk over to the briefcase but the video quality he recorded'wasn't very good' and had to sent a human technician to remove the briefcase - it didn't have a bomb inside.

The Norwegian oil company Aker BP ASA has announced it will bring aboard the infamous robotic watchdog Spot on the company's ships in the Skarv region of the Norwegian Sea. According to Aker, Spot will be charged with sniffing out hydrocarbon leaks, inspecting ship equipment, taking mechanical readings, generating reports, and completing inspections in areas that might be too dangerous for human workers. Spot was developed by the Massachusetts-based robotics company Boston Dynamics, which specializes in developing autonomous and humanoid machines. The Norwegian oil company Aker BP ASA announced it will begin using Boston Dynamics' robotic watchdog on Spot (pictured above) to help monitor equipment on its ships in the Norwegian Sea'These things never get tired, they have a larger ability to adapt and to gather data,' Aker BP ASA's Kjetel Digre told Bloomberg. The announcement is part of the Aker's new emphasis on'digitalization,' which it hopes will make its ships safer and more productive.

Boston Dynamics has been looking for ways to put its robots to work, but it turns out they've already seen some service. Radio station WBUR and the ACLU have learned that the Massachusetts State Police bomb squad leased Boston Dynamics' Spot robot between August and November. While the document didn't elaborate on the role the bot would serve, a spokesperson said it was used as a "mobile remote observation device" to keep watch over suspicious devices and dangerous locations. The machine saw use in two real-world incidents in addition to training, the police said. It's not clear how autonomous Spot was, but the police said they didn't customize the robot canine's software or weaponize it.