LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Meet Central High School's newest four-legged canine mascot: Reggie.
Reggie's not like your typical dog. He's a Spotbot 3.0.0, a robotic dog that can do what most other dogs do but can also calculate challenging mathematical equations. Reggie could even make a 3-D map of an entire building.
Central is one of only two schools in the country to get a Spotbot, which is designed by Boston Dynamics Engineering.
Christopher Brown, a teacher at Central, said that having Reggie puts the school, and Kentucky, "at the forefront of STEM education and innovation."
“As a teacher, if we are not seeing into the future of labor and how automation is changing the paradigm of how we work, then we are doing our kids a disservice,” he said. "These types of bots will only become more popular, and the 21st Century workforce will require programmers, technicians and educators to train the workforce to use these."
Brown said Reggie was purchased with federal grant funds. Boston Dynamics also loaned the high school a $60,000 'arm' accessory to help develop a robotics curriculum that can be used in schools across the country.
Educational purposes aside, Brown said the students really enjoy having Reggie for just how cool the robotic dog is.
"I had seen videos of Spot before and it looked cool but out of reach to me,” said Central student Myles Smallwood. "Once it was actually in front of me and my team it really set in how special it was for us to get this opportunity. I feel lucky to be part of such cutting-edge robotics."
Central's cyber engineering students will visit and tour the Boston Dynamics facility later this month and will get a chance to tour MIT and Harvard as well.
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