Spot, a robot dog made by Boston Dynamics, is now assigned a new task. He guards the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii in Italy.
Pompeii is a city buried in ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Well, this city is often the target of ancient object thieves, who don't hesitate to dig underground passages.
This is where the task of Spot, who will patrol an area of approximately 400 thousand square meters. In addition to patrolling Pompeii, the Spot also collects location data using a laser scanner, as well as detecting antiquities thieves who usually roam the underground passages.
This robot dog is considered suitable for operating in Pompeii, with its four agile legs, Spot is considered to be able to adapt to areas with uneven surfaces. Then its relatively small size makes it able to enter structures that cannot be entered by humans, including structures that are prone to collapse. He could also enter underground passages that the thieves had just dug.
With his camera and various sensors on his body, Spot will record three-dimensional images of the ruins that remain in Pompeii. This data will later be used by archaeologists to study the city.
According to Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archeological Park of Pompeii, until there was Spot, you could say that robots had no function that could be used in archaeological sites. Mainly because the conditions at the site are very heterogeneous. But Spot is agile enough to roam the uneven and narrow streets of Pompei.
Spot is just one of many new technologies introduced as part of the Smart@POMPEI initiative aimed at creating a 'Smart Archaeological Park'.
Apart from Spot, Smart@POMPEI also uses drones to patrol the ruins of Pompeii, the action of which can be seen in a video posted by the initiative on YouTube.