Xiaomi CyberDog: Another Toy For Rich People?

Remember Spot from Boston Dynamics? A yellow-colored robotic dog! Now imagine that in a smaller form factor at a fraction of that cost -- that's the Xiaomi CyberDog. The Xiaomi CyberDog is said to hold an unforetold possibility, and here are a few more things to know about the latest robot in the market.

Boston Dynamics sold its Spot for as much as $74,500 (~Rs. 5,54,4476) while the Xiaomi CyberDog costs just 9,999 Yuan (~Rs. 1,14,7930. However, Xiaomi will only be manufacturing just 1,000 units of the CyberDogs for "Mi Fans, engineers, And robot enthusiasts". Hence, if you plan on owning one, make sure to order it soon.

Purpose Of Xioami CyberDog?

Xiaomi has not designed its CyberDog with a specific intention. The company has specified that the CyberDog is built on open-source, which should give more options to the enthusiast to customize it further. The company also suggests that the CyberDog is like a pet, which can respond to the comments and follow the owner.

Sony's Aibo, which is one of the mainstream products in the electronic-pet industry might not face any competition from the CyberDog. Even with respect to looks, Sony's offering looks much cuter and user-friendly while the CyberDog looks like a protagonist from a sci-fi movie, that too with its black finish.

What Can CyberDog Do?

Just like the Boston Dynamics' Spot, CyberDog can do backflips, and can travel with a peak speed of 3.2m/s, and weighs 3KG. The robot is based on the Nvidia Jetson Xavier AI platform with multiple cameras and sensors to track the surrounding.

CyberDog has a USB Type-C port along with an HDMI port. The company suggests that one can add sensors like lidar and panoramic cameras can be added to increase the functionality. This could be a great tool for engineers and scientists.

As of now, Xiaomi CyberDog is only available in China and there is no information about the launch of the same in the international markets, including India. For a normal person, I feel that Xiaomi CyberDog is nothing but an expensive toy. The company has also not specified if this price is just for early adopters or the brand will continue to sell this product at a similar price tag in the future.