Spot, a robotic ‘dog’ built by Boston Dynamics, has gone to work in Italy’s Pompeii ruins, looking for cracks, damage and signs of erosion in the ancient city that was wiped out by an eruption of Mt Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago.
The robot, equipped with 360° cameras and an array of lights and other instruments is not only able to make and send detailed records of what it sees, it can also squeeze into small spaces where humans can’t go. Among the information Spot’s masters hope to find are the unmapped tunnels that have at times been used by thieves to steal artifacts from the site.
Spot, along with aerial drones, is part of a re-investment in maintaining the site and exploring it further that began after a 2012 Unesco warning that years of poor or missing maintenance had put the site in danger of losing its World Heritage status.
