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>> Okay, welcome back everyone.
The cube coverage of AWS re:Mars, 2022.
I'm John Furrier, host of theCUBE.
We got Eric Foellmer, vice president of marketing
at Boston Dynamics.
Famous for Spot.
We all know,
we've seen the videos, zillion views.
Mega views all over the internet.
The dog robotics, it's famous.
Rolls over, bounces up and down.
I mean, how many TikTok videos are out there?
Probably a ton.
>> Oh, Spot is-
Spot is world famous
(John laughs) at this point, right?
So it's the dance videos,
and all the application videos
that we have out there.
Spot is become has become world famous.
>> Eric, thanks for joining us
on theCUBE here at re:Mars.
This show really is back.
There was still a pandemic hiatus there.
But it's not a part of the re's.
It's re Mars, reinforcement of security,
and then reinvent the flagship show for AWS.
But this show is different.
It brings together a lot of disciplines.
But it's converging in on what we see
as the next general-
Industrial space is a big poster child
for that.
Obviously in space,
it's highly industrial,
highly secure.
Machine learning's powering all the devices.
You guys have been in this,
I mean a leader,
in a robotics area.
What's this show about?
I mean, what's really happening here.
What if you had to boil the essence
of the top story of what's happening here?
What would it be?
>> So the way that I look at this show
is it really is a convergence of innovation.
Like this is really just the cutting edge
of the innovation that's really happening
throughout robotics,
but throughout technology in general.
And you know, part of this cultural shift
will be to adopt these types of technologies
in our everyday life.
And I think if you ask any technology specialist here
or any innovator here or entrepreneur.
They'll tell you that they want their technologies
to become ubiquitous in society, right?
I mean, that's really what everyone
is sort of driving towards
from the perspective of-
>> And we, and we got some company behind it.
Look at this.
>> Oh, there we go.
>> All right.
>> There's a (Eric laughs)
There's one of our Spots.
>> It's got one of those back there.
All right so sorry to interrupt,
got a little distracted
by the beautiful thing there.
>> So they're literally walking around
and literally engulfing the show.
So when I look at the show,
that's what I see.
>> Let's see the picture of- >> I see the future
of technology.
>> Get a camera on our photo bomb here going on.
Get a photo bomb action.
(Eric chuckles)
It's just super exciting
because it really,
it humanizes, it makes you-
Everyone loves dogs.
And, you know, I mean,
people have more empathy if you kicked Spot
than, you know, a human.
Because there's so much empathy
for just the innovation.
But let's get into the innovation
because let's-
The IOT tech scene has been slow.
Cloud computing Amazon web services,
the leader hyper scaler.
They dominated the back office
you know, data centers,
all the servers,
digital transformation.
Now that's coming to the edge.
Where robotics is now in play.
Space, material handling,
devices for helping people
who are sick or in healthcare.
>> Eric: Mhm.
>> So a whole surge of revolutionary
or transitionary technologies coming.
What's your take on that?
>> So I think, you know,
data has become the driving force
behind technology innovation.
And so robotics are an enabler for the tech,
for the data collection
that is going to drive IOT
and manufacturing 4.0
and other important edge related
and, you know,
futuristic technology innovations, right?
So the driver of all of that is data.
And so robots like Spot
are collectors of data.
And so instead of trying to retrofit
a manufacturing plant,
you know,
with 30, 40, 50 year old equipment in some cases.
With IOT sensors and, you know,
fixed sensors throughout the network.
We're bringing the sensors to the equipment
in the form of an agile mobile robot
that brings that technology forward
and is able to assess.
>> So explain that a little slower for me.
So the one method would be retrofitting
all the devices.
Or the hardware currently installed.
>> Eric: Sure.
>> Versus almost like having a mobile unit
next to it, kind of thing.
Or-
>> Right.
So, I mean,
if you're looking at antiquated equipment
which is what most, you know,
manufacturing plants are running off of.
It's not really practical or feasible
to update them with fixed sensors.
So sensors that specifically take measurements
from that machine.
So, we enable Spot with a variety of sensors
from audio sensors to listen for audio anomalies.
Thermal detectors,
to look for thermal hotspots in equipment.
Or visual detectors, where it's reading analog gauges,
that sort of thing.
So by doing that,
we are bringing the sensors to the machines.
>> Yeah. >> And to be able
to walk anywhere where a human can walk
throughout a manufacturing plant.
To inspect the equipment,
take that reading.
And then most importantly
upload that to the cloud,
to the users >> It's a service dog.
>> you can apply some-
>> It's a service dog.
>> It really is.
And it serves data for the understanding
of how that equipment is operated.
>> This is big agility for the customer.
Get that data, agile.
Talk about the cost impact of that,
just alone.
What the alternative would be
versus say, deploying that scenario.
Because I'd imagine
the time and cost would be huge.
>> Well, if you think, you know,
about how much manufacturing facilities
put into the predictive maintenance
and being able to forecast
when their equipment needs maintenance.
But also when pieces of equipment
are going to fail.
Unexpected downtime
is one of the biggest money drains
of any manufacturing facility.
So the ability to be able to forecast
and get some insight
into when that equipment
is starting to perform less than optimally
and start to degrade.
The ability to forecast that
in advance is massive.
>> Well I think you just win on just in retrofit cost alone,
nevermind the downside scenarios
of manufacturing problems.
All right, let's zoom out.
You guys have been pioneers for a long time.
What's changed in your mind now
versus just a few years ago.
I mean, look at even 5, 10 years ago.
The evolution, cost and capability.
What's changed the most?
>> Yeah, I think the accessibility of robots
has really changed.
And we're just on the beginning stages
of that evolution.
We really are.
We're at the precipice right now
of robots becoming much more ubiquitous
in people's lives.
And that's really our foundation as a company.
Is we really want to bring robots
to mankind for the good of humanity, right?
So if you think about, you know,
taking humans out of harm's way.
Or, you know, putting robots in situations
where, you know, where it's assessing damage
for a building, for example, right.
You're taking people out of the,
out of that harm's way
and really standardizing
what you're able to do with technology.
So we see it as really being on the very entry point
of having not only robotics,
but technology in general
to become much more prevalent in people's lives.
>> Yeah. >> I mean, what, you know.
30 years ago,
did you ever think
that you would have the power of a supercomputer
in your pocket to, you know.
Which also happens to allow you to talk to people
but it is so much more, right?
So the power of a cell phone has changed our lives forever.
>> A computer that happens to be a phone.
You know, it's like,
come on. >> Right.
>> What's going on with that.
>> That's almost secondary at this point.
(John laughing) It really is.
So, I mean,
when you think about that transition
from you know,
I think we're at the cusp of that right now.
We're at the beginning stages of it.
And it's really,
it's an exciting time to be part of this.
An entire industry.
>> Before I get your views
on integration and scale.
Because that's the next level.
We're seeing a lot of action and growth.
Talk about the use case.
You've mentioned a few of them,
take people out of harms way.
What have you guys seen as use cases
within Boston Dynamics customer base
and or your partner network
around use cases.
That either you knew would happen,
or ones that might have surprised you?
>> Yeah.
One of the biggest use cases
for us right now
is what we're demonstrating here at re:MARS.
Which is the ability to walk
through a manufacturing plant
and collect data off various pieces of equipment.
Whether that's pump or a gauge
or seeing whether a valve is open or closed.
These are all simple mundane tasks
that people are,
that manufacturers are having difficulty finding people
to be able to perform.
So the ability for a robot
to go over and do that
and standardize that process
is really valuable.
As companies are trying to collect that data
in a consistent way.
So that's one of the most prevalent use cases
that we're seeing right now.
And certainly also in cases where, you know,
Spot is going into buildings
that have been structurally damaged.
Or, you know, assessing situations
where we don't want people
to be in harm's way.
>> John: Yeah.
>> You know-
>> Bomb scares, or any kind of situation
with police or, you know,
threatening or danger situations.
>> Sure.
And fire departments as well.
I mean, fire departments are becoming a huge,
you know, a huge user of the robots themselves.
Fire department in New York
recently just adopted some of our robots as well.
For that purpose,
for search and rescue applications.
>> Yeah.
Go in, go see what's in there.
See what's around the corner.
It gives a very tactical edge capability
for say the firefighter or law enforcement.
I see that-
I see the military applications
must be really insane.
>> Sure.
From a search and rescue perspective.
Absolutely.
I mean, Spot helps you put eyes on situations
that will allow a human to be operating
at a safe distance.
So it's really a great value
for protecting human life
and making sure that people
stay out of harm's way.
>> Well Eric,
I really appreciate you coming on theCUBE
and sharing your insight.
One other question I'd like to ask
if you don't mind is, you know.
The one of the things I see
next to your booth is the university piece.
And then you see the Amazon,
you know, material management.
I don't know what to call it,
but it's pretty impressive.
And then I saw some of the demos
on the keynotes.
Looking at the scale of synthetic data.
Just it's mind blowing
what's going on in manufacturing.
Amazon is pretty state of the art.
I'm sure there are a customer of yours already.
But they look complex
these manufacturing sites.
I mean, it looks like a maze.
So how do you...
I mean, I could see the consequences
of something breaking,
to be catastrophic.
Because it's almost like,
it's so integrated.
Is this where you guys see success
and how do these manufacturers deal with this?
What's the...
Is it like one big OS?
>> Yeah, so the robots,
because the robots
are able to act independently.
They can traverse difficult terrain
and collect data on their own.
And then, you know,
what happens to that data afterwards
is really up to the manufacturing.
It can be delivered from the cloud
and you can, it can be delivered via the edge.
You know, edge devices and really
that's where some of the exciting work
is being done right now.
Because that's where data can scale.
And that's where robot deployments
can scale as well, right?
So you've got instead of a single robot.
Now you have an operator
deploying multiple robots.
Monitoring, controlling, and assessing the data
from multiple robots throughout a facility.
And it really helps to scale that investment.
>> All right, final question for you.
This is personal question.
Okay, I know-
Saw your booth over there.
And you have a lot of fan base.
Spot's got a huge fan base.
What are some of the crazy things
that these nerd fans do?
I mean, everyone get selfies with the Spot.
They want to-
I jump over the fence.
I see,
"Don't touch the dog." signs everywhere.
The fan base is off the charts.
What are the crazy things
that people do to get either access to it.
There's probably, been probably some theft, probably.
Attempts, or selfies.
Share some funny stories.
>> I'll say this.
My team is responsible for fielding
a lot of the inbound inquiries that we get.
Much of which comes from the entertainment industry.
And as you've seen Spot
has been featured in some really prominent,
you know, entertainment pieces.
You know, we were in that Super Bowl ad with Sam Adams.
We were on Jimmy Kimmel, you know,
during the Super Bowl time period.
So the amount of entertainment...
>> Value >> Pitches.
Or the amount of entertainment value
is immeasurable.
But the number of pitches
that we turn down is staggering.
And when you can think about
how most companies
would probably pull out all the stops
to take, you know.
To be able to execute half the things
that we're just,
from a time perspective,
from a resource perspective >> Okay, so Spots an A-
not always able to do.
>> So Spots an A-lister,
I get that.
Is there a B-lister now?
I mean, that sounds like
there's a market developing for Spot two.
Is there a Spot two?
The B player coming in?
Understudy?
>> So, I mean,
Spot is always evolving.
I think, you know, the physical-
the physical statue
that you see of Spot right now,
Is where we're going to be in terms of the hardware,
but we continue to move the robot forward.
It becomes more and more advanced
and more and more capable
to do more and more things for people.
So. >> All right.
Well, we'll roll some B roll
on this, on theCUBE.
Thanks for coming on theCUBE.
Really appreciate it.
Boston Dynamics here in theCUBE,
famous for Spot.
And then here,
the show packed here in re:MARS
featuring, you know, robotics.
It's a big feature hall.
It's a set piece here in the show floor.
And of course theCUBE's covering it.
Thanks for watching.
More coverage.
I'm John Furrier, your host.
After the short break.
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