Robot dogs are now scaling stairs, and they might show up in society next year

The yellow robot dogs that so unsettled people in February by opening a door for one another can now easily walk up and down stairs on their own. 

Boston Dynamics CEO Marc Raibert — who founded the robot company known for building machines that mimic real animal and human movements — said Friday at the TechCrunch Robotics Sessions conference at UC Berkeley that the robots, called SpotMini, will be ready for purchase in 2019.

While declining to offer a price on the 66-pound, relatively quiet, and uniquely agile robot dogs, Raibert did say that they're designed to be deployed in commercial office building-like settings — and then eventually homes.  Read more...