**Incredible Integration: Boston Dynamics’ Robot Spot Now Equipped with OpenAI’s ChatGPT Language Model**
Boston Dynamics, an engineering company, has achieved a remarkable feat by integrating OpenAI’s advanced language model, ChatGPT, into one of its extraordinary robots, Spot. This means that Spot, the dog-like companion, can now serve as a guide and provide interesting commentary during tours of a building.
What sets Spot apart is its ability to assume different personalities, with corresponding voice, tone, and personalized remarks based on the chosen persona.
To interact with its surroundings, Spot utilizes Visual Question Answering (VQA) models, enabling it to generate image captions and provide concise responses to queries about the images. The visual data is updated every second and transmitted to the system as a text prompt.
To enhance communication, Spot now includes a vibration-resistant mount for a Respeaker V2 speaker and a ring-array microphone with LEDs. These additions seamlessly integrate with Spot’s EAP 2 payload through USB.
Spot is controlled by an offboard computer, such as a desktop PC or a laptop, which communicates with Spot using its Software Development Kit (SDK). A dedicated Spot SDK service has been developed to facilitate audio communication with the EAP 2.
For verbal responses, Spot relies on the ElevenLabs text-to-speech service. To optimize response time, the engineers have devised a system where text is streamed to the tool in parallel as “phrases,” and the resulting audio is played back serially.
Adding to Spot’s charm, it now possesses body language capabilities. It can identify and track moving objects, allowing it to locate the nearest person and orient its arm towards them. To enhance its character, Spot’s generated speech has a lowpass filter effect that mimics a puppet’s mouth. Moreover, Spot is adorned with comical costumes and googly eyes on its gripper.
One of the most intriguing aspects of this project is the AI’s inherent logic, which required minimal fine-tuning. When asked about its “parents,” Spot impressively navigates to where its predecessors are located, humorously referring to them as its “elders.” This demonstrates the model’s ability to establish statistical associations between concepts without implying consciousness.
However, it is important to note that Spot, like other language models, may occasionally generate fictitious information, known as hallucinations. An interesting example of this phenomenon can be found in an article discussing an AI-populated town inspired by The Sims. Additionally, there may be a slight delay in responses, with users occasionally experiencing a wait time of approximately six seconds.
Despite these minor limitations, this project represents a significant step forward in research at the intersection of robotics and AI. Boston Dynamics is committed to further exploring the fusion of these technologies to enhance robotic performance in human-centric environments. This promising endeavor has the potential to revolutionize human-machine interaction, ushering in a new era of intelligent companionship.
**Reference Article: [https://bostondynamics.com/blog/robots-that-can-chat/](https://bostondynamics.com/blog/robots-that-can-chat/)**
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*Author Bio:*
Niharika is a Technical consulting intern at Marktechpost. She is a third-year undergraduate, pursuing her B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. Niharika is highly enthusiastic about Machine Learning, Data Science, and AI, and keeps up with the latest developments in these fields.