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Ontario Energy Technology (OPG) is testing using the Boston Dynamics Spot robotic with an onboard manipulator to remotely journey high-voltage breakers. The first use case is to avoid wasting lives and stop harm to energy station employees. There are an estimated 30,000 cases of arc flash every year in the US alone, and one to 2 fatalities happen every day in North America.
![image of Boston Dynamic Spot racking the high power with a custom end effector.](https://www.therobotreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/spot-rackout-highpower.jpg)
This picture (taken from the video) exhibits the customized finish effector developed as a part of the absolutely automated racking process for Spot. | Credit score: Boston Dynamics
OPG has 5 Boston Dynamics’ Spot robots deployed all through their Enterprise Innovation division. In 2022, the crew sought to see if Spot’s dexterous arm might be used to help in tripping and racking out a 600-volt breaker—an exercise that’s excessive threat for arc flash. As proven within the video above, Boston Dynamics engineers have taken this utility to the following stage by absolutely automating the process. Spot can carry out all the operation autonomously, with a human issuing high-level instructions safely out of hurt’s method.