VIDEO: THE SPOTMINI IS A CLEVER ROBOTIC CANINE

Robot maker, Boston Dynamics' latest design, the SpotMini, is a quadrupedal robot which certainly has a few canine qualities. 

The company is now owned by Japanese telecom and tech giant SoftBank and first unveiled the SpotMini in June 2016. 

The SpotMini, back then, started out as a giraffe-looking chore-bot that was pretty terrible at performing tasks around the house. 

The new SpotMini looks much more polished and less terrifying, like a real-life cross between a Pixar animation and a robot out of a Neill Blomkamp vision of the future. The new model is more refined and has a smooth animal-like motion that could be mistaken as the real thing. 

The robotic dog has a softer and more compact design which, combined with a face-style sensor system where its face was originally, creates a machine that could become a new robot pal or a guard dog that can fend off unwelcomed guests. 

The video says SpotMini is "coming soon", but it is unclear whether that will be. In the meantime, have a look at the SpotMini in action: