ROBOTICS

X Marks the Bot

One of the internet’s most famous (or infamous) robots is officially going on sale. Yesterday, Boston Dynamics added Spot to its online storefront, making the four-legged robot available to any business that’s willing to cough up $74,500. 

What does that get you? 

Spot stands out from the robot pack due to its extreme mobility and flexibility. The “rugged and customizable platform,” as Boston Dynamics calls it, climbs stairs, navigates unfamiliar territory, and picks itself up after falling down. 

Companies can remotely operate Spot and fit it with sensors for automated data collection. Operators can also place payloads on Spot to carry across worksites. 

Early adopter program

Last year, Boston Dynamics began leasing Spot to a select group of customers in construction, electrical power generation, oil and gas, mining, and other industries.

“The plan was always to make Spot more generally available for purchase,” Boston Dynamics VP of Business Development Michael Perry told me. The company used the early adopter program to zero in on the right industries while ironing out training and customer service. 

Over the last three months, Perry said demand for Spot has increased. As the robotics industry likes to say, robots thrive in dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs. “The world of dangerous environments, where you want to consider automation taking over tasks that humans would be doing, expanded pretty rapidly over the past three months,” Perry said.  

Coupled with lessons from 150 Spots leased out, inbound demand for the robot “created the perfect storm for releasing the product now.” 

From fame to fortune

Internet influencers are skilled at monetizing fame...but internet robot influencers? Not so much. Most of Spot’s online cameos, such as towing Adam Savage in a rickshaw or shepherding in New Zealand, are designed to drum up hype. Now that Boston Dynamics has released its first commercial product, the robot’s handling of unsexy commercial use cases will determine its success.

AV

States’ Way = the Highway

As states set the rules for automated and autonomous vehicles, a cornucopia of different regulations has emerged, leading to testing in AV-friendly states like Arizona. The federal government is also trying to establish a database for the cornucopia. 

The Department of Transportation just launched a nationwide program, abbreviated “AV TEST” (trust me, you don’t want me to write out the full name). It’s a voluntary effort to collect and share more self-driving test data across the U.S. The initial participants: 

• Companies: Beep, Cruise, Fiat Chrysler, Local Motors, Navya, Nuro, Toyota, Uber, and Waymo
• States: California, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah

Don’t expect the information floodgates to open. AV companies keep competitive information (like fleet size) close to the vest. And California, where many of the industry’s biggest players are based, unsurprisingly has the most stringent disclosure rules.

Silver lining: If nothing else, AV TEST could help spread more awareness about automated and autonomous driving. Most U.S. adults remain highly skeptical of the technologies.

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5G

5G, Worldwide

5G will hit 190 million subscriptions globally by the end of 2020, according to new Ericsson projections. That’s 30 million devices higher than the 5G equipment vendor’s prediction last November. I’m on record predicting the opposite trend, so it seems I may be wrong. 

What explains the uptick? More activity in Northeast Asia, especially South Korea and China. Ericsson expects the region to account for nearly 90% of all 5G subscriptions by the end of the year. South Korean and Chinese carriers plowed forward with 5G network deployments as progress slowed in other places. 

About those other places: Ericsson revised estimates downward for the U.S. and EU. European countries have postponed 5G auctions due to the coronavirus. And in both markets, conspiracy theories linking 5G to the coronavirus have hindered some engineers’ work in the field due to safety concerns. 

• Ericsson suspended North American weekend field work from June 5–8 due to “Global 5G Protest Day” activities.

+ For more on 5G, check out our guide.

BITS & BYTES

Stat: Apple said the App Store enabled $519 billion in commerce last year. This may have been a preemptive move to deflect news out of the European Commission, which has launched antitrust probes into the App Store and Apple Pay. 

Quote: “Smartphone-generated content seems to be more diagnostic of how people truly feel.”—Penn Assistant Professor Dr. Shiri Melumad to the WSJ. Her research suggests we’re more honest and vulnerable when typing on our smartphones than on PCs. 

Read: Federal prosecutors brought charges against former eBay execs for cyberstalking and harassing a Boston-area couple who reportedly criticized the company in an e-commerce newsletter. *Newsletter writer shudders.* Here’s the full press release; the story involves subterfuge, spiders, and much more.

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WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Hey is a new email service from the makers of Basecamp that launched Monday. The Basecamp team says Apple isn’t allowing iOS updates to Hey because the App Store owner isn’t getting a cut of the subscription revenue.  
• Epic Games is nearing a $750 million round of funding from private equity investors, valuing the Fortnite developer at $17 billion, Bloomberg reports. 
• Cloudflare Cofounder and CEO Matthew Prince explains why T-Mobile’s network outage on Monday was not a cyberattack. 
• WhatsApp is rolling out payments in Brazil this week (no connection to Libra). 
• Voting and advocacy groups are targeting ads to protesters using location data, the WSJ reports.
• Bose is shuttering its AR audio program.
• Las Vegas Sands will demo Oura smart rings to detect COVID-19 before symptoms show.

TRIVIA

Today’s trivia is dedicated to the makers of Spot, the most famous robot dog on the internet. Let’s test your knowledge of viral videos and Boston Dynamics. 

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TECH THINGAMABOBS

For tiny lego computers: The most beautiful photo I’ve seen all month. 

For a deepfake update: Facebook announced the results of its first Deepfake Detection Challenge. Tl;dr: Deepfake detection technology is advancing, but not ready for primetime. 

For Juneteenth: On Friday, I’ll be sending a special edition of the newsletter focused on race and technology.

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions: 

• A Q&A with Duo Cofounder and Cisco GM Dug Song
• Snap Announces New Tools, Partnerships, and Engagement Data at Developer Conference
• Nikola Soars and Lilium Enters the Unicorn Club