Robots doing inspections
Boston Dynamics published a demo showing an inspection workflow driven by Google’s Gemini Robotics, positioning AI as the decision-making layer rather than just perception or locomotion (youtube.com). The video frames inspection as a narrow industrial application where a robot can collect images, classify anomalies, and produce maintenance-ready summaries for integration with existing systems (youtube.com).
Robots already inspect factories by following fixed routes and taking the same readings every shift. Boston Dynamics said on April 14 that it has added Google Gemini Robotics to that workflow so Spot can interpret what it sees instead of only collecting images. (bostondynamics.com) The company’s demo video shows Spot walking an inspection route, photographing equipment, reading gauges and sight glasses, and sending findings into Orbit, Boston Dynamics’ fleet software. Boston Dynamics posted the video on YouTube this week under the name “Smarter Inspections Powered by Google Gemini Robotics.” (youtube.com) Google DeepMind introduced Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER on March 12, 2025 as models for robots that combine image understanding with spatial reasoning, which is the ability to judge position, distance, and layout in the physical world. DeepMind said Gemini Robotics-ER lets robot developers use that reasoning inside their own software rather than only through direct robot control. (deepmind.google) Boston Dynamics said the new version uses Gemini and Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 inside Orbit AIVI-Learning, its cloud system for visual inspection analysis. The company said the Gemini-powered update went live for customers enrolled in AIVI-Learning on April 8, 2026. (bostondynamics.com) Inspection is a narrow job compared with a household assistant: the robot revisits the same pumps, valves, tanks, and electrical gear and checks whether each one looks normal. Boston Dynamics already sells Spot for industrial inspection with thermal cameras, pan-tilt-zoom cameras, acoustic imagers, and Orbit software for site management. (bostondynamics.com) The new piece is the reasoning layer, which works like a supervisor deciding what an image means after the cameras capture it. Boston Dynamics said AIVI-Learning now supports gauge reading, 5S compliance audits, pallet counting, puddle detection, and sight-glass fullness measurements from 0 to 100 percent. (bostondynamics.com) Boston Dynamics said the software can feed inspection results into existing maintenance systems through Orbit’s application programming interface, which is a standard way for one software tool to pass data to another. The company has separately said Orbit can connect inspection data to external asset-management platforms and automate downstream processes such as work orders. (bostondynamics.com) The partnership also fits a broader 2026 push between the two companies. Boston Dynamics said on January 5 that it had formed a separate partnership with Google DeepMind to bring Gemini Robotics foundation models to its Atlas humanoid program. (bostondynamics.com) Boston Dynamics is presenting this release as a product update, not a research teaser. The company said customers using AIVI-Learning get the Gemini-powered model without downtime, and the demo keeps the task focused on routine industrial checks where a missed reading can turn into equipment damage or unplanned downtime. (bostondynamics.com)
