A dog in both form and spirit needed

There has been a market for robotic pets in certain countries for a while now, with the Japanese Paro the Baby Seal making its US debut five years ago as a therapy aid in old-age homes. Even the need for a bionic Tommy, Sheru or Jacky to carry out potentially dangerous policing and security work instead of real dogs is understandable. That is probably what the Boston Dynamics' BigDog quadrupedal bot was invented to do. But the company's new miniature version — nostalgically named Spot — unveiled last week is clearly not meant to be a mere muscular, untiring pack animal robo-dog as it is shown in promos in such typical domestic situations as jogging along its 'master', climbing stairs and even recovering from a kick in the 'ribs'. It may have been wiser, however, to show the K9 bot reacting to that latter act the way any tough dog would: by growling, baring its teeth and landing a nip on the offending human extremity if need be.

Unfortunately, BigDog and Spot look like they wandered off aTransformers film set and have none of the other engaging attributes of most dogs: furry coats, slurpy tongues, wagging tails and loving eyes. So, the least their manufacturers can do to enhance authenticity and appeal is turn their incessant electronic whirrs into welcoming woofs. And add a canine fang or two, just in case.…