VIDEO The “Spot” robot dog was trained to monitor an oil rig, also detecting the smell of methane

The Boston Dynamics “robot” dog is learning new tricks on a BP Group oil rig 305 kilometers off the Gulf of Mexico, such as reading gauges, looking for corrosion, mapping the structure and even detecting the smell of methane, Reuters reports. news.ro

BP’s director of technology, Adam Ballard, said Spot’s duties will make working on the Mad Dog platform safer by reducing the number of people needed. The staff may also carry out other activities.

“For several hours a day, several operators patrol the platform, read the signals, listen to anomalous noises, look for anomalies on the horizon, boats that have not been observed on the radar,” Ballard said.

“What we are doing with Spot is an attempt to replicate these observation activities,” Ballard said, adding that an operator will be able to subsequently analyze the information from a central location.

Spot has a built-in gas sensor, programmed to shut down the robot if it detects a methane leak.

Boston Dynamics does not provide information on sales agreements with companies, but the Spot robot model can be purchased for $ 74,500.

BP hopes to expand Spot’s data collection capacity in the future to increased areas where human access is limited.

“We have multispectral images, where many bands can be seen across the spectrum … so we can see things that people can’t see,” Ballard explained.