A new Robot is Wandering the Fields of New Zealand, Hearding Sheep!

Canines beware: Apparently we humans aren’t the only ones who need to worry about our inevitable robot overlords replacing us.

This week, New Zealand software firm Rocos announced a partnership with Boston Dynamics to give the latter’s famous robotic dog/four-legged nightmare automaton a new gig: herding sheep.

Rocos specializes in developing software for remote robot operation and said its cloud platform will enable Spot—a line of robots nimble enough to traverse rough terrain while strong enough to pull a truck, to offset strain from worker shortages caused by the coronavirus outbreak and help make food production in the country more efficient.

“Equipped with payloads like heat, LIDAR, gas and high-resolution camera sensors, Spot navigates rugged environments to capture data in real-time,” the company said in a recent blog post. “In agriculture, farmers can access information such as more accurate and up-to-date yield estimates. This provides access to a new category of automation, and a safer, more efficient business."

It may be cool, but is it cute, fluffy and loveable? We think not. Let the dogs keep their jobs!