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Deployment

Spot at United States

Spot is Boston Dynamics' commercially available quadruped robot for autonomous inspection and reality capture. Carrying laser scanners and 360-degree cameras, it runs repeatable Autowalk missions (record a path once, then execute autonomously with dynamic obstacle avoidance) and is widely used for industrial inspection across energy, utilities, manufacturing and construction; the Scout software manages fleets and missions. Roughly 1,500+ units are deployed globally (base price ~$74,500). It is distinct from Boston Dynamics' Stretch warehouse case-handling robot (see boston-dynamics-stretch) and the Atlas humanoid (see boston-dynamics-atlas), sharing only the manufacturer.

Spot by Boston Dynamics · Catalog entry · 3 sources · not yet field-verified

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Recent coverage

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Machine-readable surfaces

Footage

PRIMARY SOURCE
Courtesy of Boston Dynamics

Boston Dynamics footage of its Spot quadruped performing site-documentation data-capture on a construction jobsite, with a self-charging dock. The autonomy is a route-taught Autowalk: an operator records the mission once and Spot then repeats it autonomously and recharges.

Boston Dynamics Spot deployed fall 2021, based out of Jackson, Michigan. Patrols Blackstone Substation and others autonomously using programmed Autowalk schedules. Thermal camera for hotspot detection; gauge reading. Six autonomous missions per day (~20 min each). April 2024: Spot found first defect at Blackstone; three defects total that summer 2024. Part of Consumers Energy Reliability Roadmap (goal: restore power to every customer in under 24 hours). Robot docks, recharges, and emails findings to control room. Machine-learning algorithm developed using Spot data to detect anomalies.

Key facts

Operator
Consumers Energy
Site
Blackstone Substation, Jackson, Michigan
Use
Autonomous Autowalk missions for thermal scanning and gauge reading to detect electrical hotspots

Safety record

No incidents on record for Spot at United States.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Trust tier
Catalog entry · 3 sources · not yet field-verifiedhow tiers work →
Last updated
2026-07-10
Model
Spot
Company
Boston Dynamics
Location
United States
Status
operational
Operator type
customer deployed
ID
1cf19b73-2ce5-4e32-91cf-28b220ab4af4

Timeline

  1. Jun 2026
    created
  2. Jun 2026
    field updated
    sources: source added → Force4Michigan: The Hardworking Animals of Consumers Energy
  3. Jul 2026
    Current status: operational, reviewed
    Latest recorded state. New status transitions append here as the deployment-status recorder produces them.

On the deployment map

Spot operates in United States. Explore the full verified map:

Sources (3)

  1. https://www.fox47news.com/neighborhoods/jackson-hillsdale/consumers-energy-has-a-new-four-legged-helper-in-jackson
  2. https://bostondynamics.com/blog/retrospective-on-boston-dynamics-spot-robot-uses/
  3. https://force4michigan.com/the-hardworking-animals-of-consumers-energy/
Methodology: Verified · 3 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-10

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-07-10

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: commercial

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: quadruped

Sources by quality tier

3
unclassified
Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Spot at United States.

Common questions

What is the Spot deployment at United States?
Spot, built by Boston Dynamics, is recorded as a deployment at United States on the DEPLOY registry. Boston Dynamics operates the deployment directly.
Who operates Spot at United States?
Boston Dynamics, the manufacturer of Spot, operates this deployment directly. This is a maker-deploys-its-own-product arrangement rather than a customer pilot.
Have there been incidents at the Spot deployment at United States?
No active incidents affecting this deployment are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Absence of recorded incidents is not a guarantee no incident occurred; DEPLOY records only sourced incidents and suppresses retracted ones.

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