Boston Dynamics has unveiled a new feature for their renowned robot dog, Spot. The company has integrated OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Spot, enabling the robot to converse in a variety of voices and accents.
The integration was a result of a hackathon where Boston Dynamics engineers combined several AI technologies, including ChatGPT, voice recognition software, voice creation software, and image processing AI. Spot was also equipped with a speaker and underwent modifications to allow its mouth to move.
In a video released by the company, Spot can be seen responding to different prompts and interacting with humans. The robot dog showcased its ability to generate a haiku upon request and even guide a thirsty engineer to the company’s snack area.
Despite these impressive capabilities, it’s important to note that Spot doesn’t actually understand what it’s saying or what is being said to it. Like all large language models, it has been trained on a vast corpus of data and language to respond to prompts with its own predictions of what we might want to see or hear.
The integration of ChatGPT into Spot marks a significant step forward in the field of robotics, bringing us closer to the sci-fi future of talking robotic pets. However, as Matt Klingensmith, principal software engineer for robot autonomy at Boston Dynamics, points out, the speed at which AI technology is advancing is incredible, and it’s hard to imagine what features will be available in the future.
