The Site Is Becoming a Machine - 2026-04-26 - Note - Sites are being instrumented, measured, and fed into software systems that can act on them in real time.
Research
FCTS: Failure-Guided Curriculum Tree Search Over Generated Terrain for Legged Parkour - 2026-10-15 - Research Publication - FCTS generates terrain curricula from localised policy failures and searches competing training trajectories under a fixed budget. Evaluation uses reconstructed construction-site geometry and a physical Boston Dynamics… - source: arxiv.org
BT-Agent: Deploying Onboard Robot Agents with Behavior Trees and Multi-Fidelity Evaluation - 2026-10-09 - Research Publication - BT-Agent combines language-model task reasoning with predefined behavior-tree skills and local execution guards. A9B model runs onboard Boston Dynamics Spot with Jetson Thor, completing11 of15 research trials with… - source: arxiv.org
Embodied Active Learning under Limited Annotation and Navigation Budget for Object Detection - 2026-07-17 - Research Publication - Spot collects indoor views for annotation-efficient object-detection training. - source: arxiv.org
From Pixels to Concepts: Growing Rich 3D Semantic Scene Graph Forests utilizing Foundation Models - 2026-06-22 - Research Publication - Operating in complex real-world environments requires robots to understand their surroundings on a functional semantic level. - source: arxiv.org
Trajectory-Consistent Flow Matching for Robust Visuomotor Policy Learning - 2026-05-08 - Research Publication - Flow matching policies learn continuous velocity fields that transport noise to actions, enabling fast deterministic inference for robot manipulation. - source: arxiv.org
Simulation and Motion Control of the Spot Quadruped Robot in a Webots Virtual Environment: An Approach for Locomotion Algorithm Validation - 2026-04-17 - Research Publication - This work presents a control implementation for the Boston Dynamics Spot quadruped robot in the Webots simulation environment. The main objective was to develop and validate fundamental motion control algorithms, including… - source: doi.org
CART: Context-Aware Terrain Adaptation using Temporal Sequence Selection for Legged Robots - 2026-04-15 - Research Publication - Animals in nature combine multiple modalities, such as sight and feel, to perceive terrain and develop an understanding of how to walk on uneven terrain in an efficient manner. - source: arxiv.org
Google DeepMind releases Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 embodied reasoning model - 2026-04-14 - Research Publication - Google DeepMind released Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6, an embodied reasoning model for spatial understanding, planning, success detection, and instrument reading. The post highlights Boston Dynamics Spot as a partner context for… - source: deepmind.google
Boston Dynamics demonstrates Spot task execution with Gemini Robotics - 2026-04-14 - Research Publication - Boston Dynamics demonstrates Spot using Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 to interpret a home environment, select useful robot tools, and call Spot SDK functions. The demo makes Spot the explicit platform context for embodied… - source: bostondynamics.com
Toward Hardware-Agnostic Quadrupedal World Models via Morphology Conditioning - 2026-04-09 - Research Publication - World models promise a paradigm shift in robotics, where an agent learns the underlying physics of its environment once to enable efficient planning and behavior learning. - source: arxiv.org
Sumo: Dynamic and Generalizable Whole-Body Loco-Manipulation - 2026-04-09 - Research Publication - This paper presents a sim-to-real approach that enables legged robots to dynamically manipulate large and heavy objects with whole-body dexterity. Our key insight is that by performing test-time steering of a pre-trained… - source: arxiv.org
Boston Dynamics adds Gemini Robotics to Orbit AIVI-Learning for Spot - 2026-04-08 - Research Publication - Boston Dynamics describes Orbit AIVI-Learning powered by Gemini and Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 for industrial inspection. The source ties Spot to facility understanding, gauge interpretation, and repeated learning from… - source: bostondynamics.com
Do Robots Need Body Language? Comparing Communication Modalities for Legible Motion Intent in Human-Shared Spaces - 2026-04-03 - Research Publication - Robots in shared spaces often move in ways that are difficult for people to interpret, placing the burden on humans to adapt. - source: arxiv.org
Pandora: Articulated 3D Scene Graphs from Egocentric Vision - 2026-03-30 - Research Publication - Robotic mapping systems typically approach building metric-semantic scene representations from the robot's own sensors and cameras. - source: arxiv.org
MEVIUS2: Practical Open-Source Quadruped Robot with Sheet Metal Welding and Multimodal Perception - 2026-03-23 - Research Publication - Various quadruped robots have been developed to date, and thanks to reinforcement learning, they are now capable of traversing diverse types of rough terrain. In parallel, there is a growing trend of releasing these robot… - source: arxiv.org
Efficient Autonomous Navigation of a Quadruped Robot in Underground Mines on Edge Hardware - 2026-03-04 - Research Publication - A configured Spot performs fully autonomous navigation in an experimental underground mine. - source: arxiv.org
Hilbert-Augmented Reinforcement Learning for Scalable Multi-Robot Coverage and Exploration - 2026-02-23 - Research Publication - We present a coverage framework that integrates Hilbert space-filling priors into decentralized multi-robot learning and execution. - source: arxiv.org
Understanding Fire Through Thermal Radiation Fields for Mobile Robots - 2026-02-22 - Research Publication - Safely moving through environments affected by fire is a critical capability for autonomous mobile robots deployed in disaster response. - source: arxiv.org
World Model Failure Classification and Anomaly Detection for Autonomous Inspection - 2026-02-18 - Research Publication - Autonomous inspection robots for monitoring industrial sites can reduce costs and risks associated with human-led inspection. - source: arxiv.org
ZEST: Zero-shot Embodied Skill Transfer for Athletic Robot Control - 2026-01-30 - Research Publication - Physical Atlas and Spot execute diverse zero-shot athletic motion skills. - source: arxiv.org
Heterogeneous Robot Collaboration in Unstructured Environments with Grounded Generative Intelligence - 2025-10-30 - Research Publication - Heterogeneous robot teams operating in realistic settings often must accomplish complex missions requiring collaboration and adaptation to information acquired online. - source: arxiv.org
DIV-Nav: Open-Vocabulary Spatial Relationships for Multi-Object Navigation - 2025-10-18 - Research Publication - Advances in open-vocabulary semantic mapping and object navigation have enabled robots to perform an informed search of their environment for an arbitrary object. - source: arxiv.org
Whole Body Model Predictive Control for Spin-Aware Quadrupedal Table Tennis - 2025-10-09 - Research Publication - Developing table tennis robots that mirror human speed, accuracy, and ability to predict and respond to the full range of ball spins remains a significant challenge for legged robots. To demonstrate these capabilities we… - source: arxiv.org
Terrain Classification for the Spot Quadrupedal Mobile Robot Using Only Proprioceptive Sensing - 2025-08-22 - Research Publication - Quadrupedal mobile robots can traverse a wider range of terrain types than their wheeled counterparts but do not perform the same on all terrain types. - source: arxiv.org
Manipulate-to-Navigate: Reinforcement Learning with Visual Affordances and Manipulability Priors - 2025-08-18 - Research Publication - Mobile manipulation in dynamic environments is challenging due to movable obstacles blocking the robot's path. - source: arxiv.org
UniTac: Whole-Robot Touch Sensing Without Tactile Sensors - 2025-07-10 - Research Publication - Robots can better interact with humans and unstructured environments through touch sensing. However, most commercial robots are not equipped with tactile skins, making it challenging to achieve even basic touch-sensing… - source: arxiv.org
VISTA: Open-Vocabulary, Task-Relevant Robot Exploration with Online Semantic Gaussian Splatting - 2025-07-01 - Research Publication - We present VISTA (Viewpoint-based Image selection with Semantic Task Awareness), an active exploration method for robots to plan informative trajectories that improve 3D map quality in areas most relevant for task… - source: arxiv.org
A Spatial Relationship Aware Dataset for Robotics - 2025-06-14 - Research Publication - Robotic task planning in real-world environments requires not only object recognition but also a nuanced understanding of spatial relationships between objects. - source: arxiv.org
High-Performance Reinforcement Learning on Spot: Optimizing Simulation Parameters with Distributional Measures - 2025-04-24 - Research Publication - This work presents an overview of the technical details behind a high performance reinforcement learning policy deployment with the Spot RL Researcher Development Kit for low level motor access on Boston Dynamics Spot. - source: arxiv.org
A Simulation Pipeline to Facilitate Real-World Robotic Reinforcement Learning Applications - 2025-02-21 - Research Publication - Reinforcement learning (RL) has gained traction for its success in solving complex tasks for robotic applications. - source: arxiv.org
aliy98/immersive-spot-teleoperation - 2025-01-22 - Research Publication - This repository contains a modular software architecture designed for immersive teleoperation of the Boston Dynamics Spot robot using the Meta Quest 2. - source: github.com
SaadIqbalEE/Shoveling-earth-with-the-Boston-Dynamics-Spot-robot - 2025-01-21 - Research Publication - Shoveling earth with the Boston Dynamics Spot robot - source: github.com
Learning More With Less: Sample Efficient Model-Based RL for Loco-Manipulation - 2025-01-17 - Research Publication - By combining the agility of legged locomotion with the capabilities of manipulation, loco-manipulation platforms have the potential to perform complex tasks in real-world applications. - source: arxiv.org
An Actionable Hierarchical Scene Representation Enhancing Autonomous Inspection Missions in Unknown Environments - 2024-12-27 - Research Publication - In this article, we present the Layered Semantic Graphs (LSG), a novel actionable hierarchical scene graph, fully integrated with a multi-modal mission planner, the FLIE: A First-Look based Inspection and Exploration… - source: arxiv.org
DTAA: A Detect, Track and Avoid Architecture for navigation in spaces with Multiple Velocity Objects - 2024-12-11 - Research Publication - Proactive collision avoidance measures are imperative in environments where humans and robots coexist. - source: arxiv.org
Zero-shot Object-Centric Instruction Following: Integrating Foundation Models with Traditional Navigation - 2024-11-12 - Research Publication - LIFGIF combines language-inferred map priors with established SLAM and navigation components for zero-shot instruction following. - source: arxiv.org
Physically-Consistent Parameter Identification of Robots in Contact - 2024-09-15 - Research Publication - Accurate inertial parameter identification is crucial for the simulation and control of robots encountering intermittent contact with the environment. Classically, robots' inertial parameters are obtained from CAD models… - source: arxiv.org
ReMoBot: Retrieval-Based Few-Shot Imitation Learning for Mobile Manipulation with Vision Foundation Models - 2024-08-28 - Research Publication - Imitation learning (IL) algorithms typically distill demonstrations into parametric policies to mimic expert behavior. - source: arxiv.org
Benned-H/spot_skills - 2024-08-20 - Research Publication - Motion-planning-based skills for Boston Dynamics' Spot robot - source: github.com
Retrieval-Augmented Hierarchical in-Context Reinforcement Learning and Hindsight Modular Reflections for Task Planning with LLMs - 2024-08-12 - Research Publication - Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable abilities in various language tasks, making them promising candidates for decision-making in robotics. - source: arxiv.org
IntentionNet: Map-Lite Visual Navigation at the Kilometre Scale - 2024-07-03 - Research Publication - This work explores the challenges of creating a scalable and robust robot navigation system that can traverse both indoor and outdoor environments to reach distant goals. - source: arxiv.org
Toward Autonomous Construction Material Inventory Management using a Boston Dynamics SPOT and Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) Passive RFID - 2024-05-26 - Research Publication - Construction materials account for a significant percentage of the resources on a construction site and plays a vital role in the success of the project. By utilizing an experimental methodology, the goal of this research… - source: doi.org
AutoInspect: Towards Long-Term Autonomous Industrial Inspection - 2024-04-19 - Research Publication - We give an overview of AutoInspect, a ROS-based software system for robust and extensible mission-level autonomy. - source: arxiv.org
Human Stress Response and Perceived Safety during Encounters with Quadruped Robots - 2024-03-25 - Research Publication - Despite the rise of mobile robot deployments in home and work settings, perceived safety of users and bystanders is understudied in the human-robot interaction (HRI) literature. - source: arxiv.org
HARPER dataset paper studies human-pose forecasting from Boston Dynamics Spot - 2024-03-21 - Research Publication - We introduce HARPER, a novel dataset for 3D body pose estimation and forecast in dyadic interactions between users and Spot, the quadruped robot manufactured by Boston Dynamics. - source: arxiv.org
sandialabs/spot_bt_ros - 2024-03-14 - Research Publication - Behavior Tree ROS 2 package for Boston Dynamics' Spot robot. - source: github.com
Safe Spot: Perceived safety of dominant and submissive appearances of quadruped robots in human-robot interactions - 2024-03-08 - Research Publication - Unprecedented possibilities of quadruped robots have driven much research on the technical aspects of these robots. - source: arxiv.org
VLFM: Vision-Language Frontier Maps for Zero-Shot Semantic Navigation - 2023-12-06 - Research Publication - Understanding how humans leverage semantic knowledge to navigate unfamiliar environments and decide where to explore next is pivotal for developing robots capable of human-like search behaviors. - source: arxiv.org
ViT-A*: Legged Robot Path Planning using Vision Transformer A* - 2023-10-11 - Research Publication - The authors propose an approach that utilizes differentiable planners, allowing the learning of end-to-end global plans via a neural network for commanding quadruped robots. - source: arxiv.org
MTG: Mapless Trajectory Generator with Traversability Coverage for Outdoor Navigation - 2023-09-15 - Research Publication - We present a novel learning-based trajectory generation algorithm for outdoor robot navigation. - source: arxiv.org
Language-Conditioned Observation Models for Visual Object Search - 2023-09-13 - Research Publication - The authors empirically evaluate their method by comparing against a state-of-the-art object search algorithm in simulation, and demonstrate that planning with their observation model yields a significantly higher average… - source: arxiv.org
Using Lidar Intensity for Robot Navigation - 2023-09-13 - Research Publication - The authors present Multi-Layer Intensity Map, a novel 3D object representation for robot perception and autonomous navigation. - source: arxiv.org
Deadlock-free, Safe, and Decentralized Multi-Robot Navigation in Social Mini-Games via Discrete-Time Control Barrier Functions - 2023-08-21 - Research Publication - We present an approach to ensure safe and deadlock-free navigation for decentralized multi-robot systems operating in constrained environments, including doorways and intersections. - source: arxiv.org
rai-opensource/vlfm - 2023-07-04 - Research Publication - The repository provides code associated with the paper VLFM: Vision-Language Frontier Maps for Zero-Shot Semantic Navigation (ICRA 2024) - source: github.com
Assessment of the Utilization of Quadruped Robots in Pharmaceutical Research and Development Laboratories - 2023-07-03 - Research Publication - Drug development is becoming more and more complex and resource-intensive. - source: arxiv.org
Decentralized Social Navigation with Non-Cooperative Robots via Bi-Level Optimization - 2023-06-15 - Research Publication - This paper presents a fully decentralized approach for realtime non-cooperative multi-robot navigation in social mini-games, such as navigating through a narrow doorway or negotiating right of way at a corridor intersection. - source: arxiv.org
EgoSpot:Egocentric Multimodal Control for Hands-Free Mobile Manipulation - 2023-06-04 - Research Publication - The authors propose a novel hands-free control framework for the Boston Dynamics Spot robot using the Microsoft HoloLens 2 mixed-reality headset. - source: arxiv.org
Integration of robotics in underground mining construction works - 2023-04-12 - Research Publication - Since November 2021, Acciona has been testing the SPOT quadruped robot (Boston Dynamics’ Spot) in the underground mining site in Chile, with the main goal of reducing risks for human personnel while increasing process… - source: doi.org
ASC: Adaptive Skill Coordination for Robotic Mobile Manipulation - 2023-04-01 - Research Publication - The authors present Adaptive Skill Coordination (ASC) -- an approach for accomplishing long-horizon tasks like mobile pick-and-place (i.e., navigating to an object, picking it, navigating to another location, and placing… - source: arxiv.org
VERN: Vegetation-aware Robot Navigation in Dense Unstructured Outdoor Environments - 2023-03-25 - Research Publication - The authors propose a novel method for autonomous legged robot navigation in densely vegetated environments with a variety of pliable/traversable and non-pliable/untraversable vegetation. - source: arxiv.org
Learning-and-Intelligent-Systems/lis-spot-utils - 2023-03-15 - Research Publication - A number of helpful utilities for doing cool things with the Boston Dynamics Spot Robot! - source: github.com
A System for Generalized 3D Multi-Object Search - 2023-03-06 - Research Publication - The study building upon a recent theoretical framework that exploited the octree structure for representing belief in 3D, the authors present GenMOS (Generalized Multi-Object Search), the first general-purpose system for… - source: arxiv.org
Evaluation of Lidar-based 3D SLAM algorithms in SubT environment - 2023-02-27 - Research Publication - Autonomous navigation of robots in harsh and GPS denied subterranean (SubT) environments with lack of natural or poor illumination is a challenging task that fosters the development of algorithms for pose estimation and… - source: arxiv.org
SOCRATES: Text-based Human Search and Approach using a Robot Dog - 2023-02-10 - Research Publication - The study proposes a SOCratic model for Robots Approaching humans based on TExt System (SOCRATES) focusing on the human search and approach based on free-form textual description; the robot first searches for the target… - source: arxiv.org
A Flexible Framework for Virtual Omnidirectional Vision to Improve Operator Situation Awareness - 2023-02-01 - Research Publication - The study presents a flexible framework for virtual projections to increase situation awareness based on a novel method to fuse multiple cameras mounted anywhere on the robot. - source: arxiv.org
Generalized Object Search - 2023-01-24 - Research Publication - In support of this argument, I develop methods and systems for (multi-)object search in 3D environments under uncertainty due to limited field of view, occlusion, noisy, unreliable detectors, spatial correlations between… - source: arxiv.org
CAPE: Corrective Actions from Precondition Errors using Large Language Models - 2022-11-17 - Research Publication - Extracting commonsense knowledge from a large language model (LLM) offers a path to designing intelligent robots. Existing approaches that leverage LLMs for planning are unable to recover when an action fails and often… - source: arxiv.org
dehezhang2/ego-spot - 2022-11-16 - Research Publication - A HoloLens 2 application that enables users (especially amputy people) to control the Boston Dynamics Spot robot’s movement and arm - source: github.com
MURobotics/SpotBasePackage - 2022-11-04 - Research Publication - Base library for controlling Boston Dynamics Spot robots programmatically - source: github.com
facebookresearch/home-robot - 2022-11-01 - Research Publication - Mobile manipulation research tools for roboticists - source: github.com
narittt/spot-bvi - 2022-10-05 - Research Publication - Adds greater accessibility to a Boston Dynamics Spot Robot for the Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI). Consists of a Swift/SwiftUI based natural language app to take BVI user voice commands and a python-based server to… - source: github.com
The Use of Boston Dynamics SPOT in Support of LiDAR Scanning on Active Construction Sites - 2022-07-15 - Research Publication - The Use of Boston Dynamics SPOT in Support of LiDAR Scanning on Active Construction Sites Eric Wetzel, Junshan Liu, Tom Leathem and Anoop Sattineni Pages 86-92 (2022 Proceedings of the 39th ISARC, Bogotá, Colombia, ISBN… - source: doi.org
A Step Towards Automated Tool Tracking on Construction Sites: Boston Dynamics SPOT and RFID - 2022-05-15 - Research Publication - Tool tracking and inventory management on a construction project is often more reactive than proactive. It is not that tools are not of value, but to larger firms, a certain comfort level exists with a loss to a relatively… - source: doi.org
mattmaring/SPOT-navigation - 2022-02-10 - Research Publication - Command line control and data collection interface for Boston Dynamics Spot Robot - source: github.com
Socially CompliAnt Navigation Dataset (SCAND) - 2022-01-01 - Research Publication - Adds a dataset artifact for both Jackal and Spot social navigation research. - source: cs.utexas.edu
naokiyokoyama/bd_spot_wrapper - 2021-12-03 - Research Publication - Scripts for experimentation with Boston Dynamics Spot Robot - source: github.com
yezhicheng99/spot_manipulator - 2021-05-07 - Research Publication - Boston dynamics spot robot with open manipulator - source: github.com
Autonomous Spot paper demonstrates long-range exploration in extreme environments - 2020-10-19 - Research Publication - This paper serves as one of the first efforts to enable large-scale and long-duration autonomy using the Boston Dynamics Spot robot. - source: arxiv.org
heuristicus/spot_ros - 2020-09-08 - Research Publication - ROS driver for controlling Boston Dynamics' Spot robot - source: github.com