Oh hey, Xiaomi now has its own creepy robot dog – TechCrunch

Xiaomi today announced the CyberDog, an open-source four-legged robot for developers to “lean on” and build apps for. The machine, which looks like a more rugged version of Boston Dynamics’ Spot, is a showcase of Xiaomi’s engineering know-how, including its proprietary servo motors.

Running the show is a version of NVIDIA’s Jetson Xavier NX, which has been dubbed the world’s smallest AI supercomputer. When it comes to being able to discover the world, CyberDog has 11 sensors on its body, including touch and ultrasonic sensors, cameras and GPS to help it “interact with its surroundings”.

Xiaomi says this technology is good enough to allow CyberDog to follow its owner and get around obstacles. He is also able to identify posture and track human faces, allowing him to spot and follow individuals in a group.

Rather than selling it as a general sale product, the company will now release 1,000 of these things to “Xiaomi fans, engineers and robotics enthusiasts to jointly explore the immense possibility of CyberDog.” This will be facilitated by an open source community, hosted by Xiaomi, which could be followed by the construction of a robotics lab to pave the way for “future innovations”.

Of course, this thing doesn’t come cheap, and people willing to get involved will have to fork out 9,999 yuan or around $ 1,540 to get one for themselves.

Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on Engadget.