Robodog Drags "Mythbusters" Co-Host Adam Savage Around in Rickshaw

The robot designed by Boston Dynamics pulls "Mythbusters" co-host Adam Savage up a hill, in a goth rickshaw.

| Feb 13, 2020 05:17 PM EST

Created: Feb 13, 2020 05:17 PM EST

Former co-host of the hit "Mythbusters" show and YouTube star Adam Savage has constructed a one-person rickshaw carriage, so his Boston Dynamics Spot robot can drag him around.

Let's not ask why Savage appears to prefer robots as servants.

Spot the robot dog pulls Adam Savage up a hill

The engineering firm Boston Dynamics made Spot available for sale in September 2019. Since then, the robot has seen wide-spanning and imaginative applications. The oil producer Aker BP announced earlier this week that Spot will be tested on a Norwegian oil rig, under the guidance of an AI software company. The Massachusetts Police Force is also rumored to be carrying out experiments with Spot robots.

Spot the robot who carries that weight

In the video, Savage says this experiment happened because he wanted to give the robot a task that was "fun and evocative and strange ... and hilarious." The robot, Spot, doesn't possess the payload capacity to carry him, so Savage decided to build himself a rickshaw, to share his weight.

Displaced by the two custom-made cartwheels, Spot is able to pull Savage partway up a gravel path — until the increased weight of the incline gets the better of Spots tenuous metal joints.

A tech assistant explains later that Spot didn't actually "know" he was carrying extra weight — which makes one wonder what the cutting-edge robot can do when it knows the score.