The surprising thing here is that after all of those videos showing astounding robotic feats after all of these years, this is the first product release from the company.

From the article:

> Spot is currently being tested in a number of “proof-of-concept” environments, Boston Dynamics’ CEO Marc Raibert told The Verge, including package delivery and surveying work. And although there’s no firm launch date for the commercial version of Spot, it should be available within months, said Raibert, and certainly before the end of the year.

BD seems less like a standalone company and more like the R&D arm of a giant advertising monopoly. Cool gizmos but nothing that's going to find product-market-fit because that's not part of the plan. There's really no focus on a customer here at all.

This would seem to present an opportunity to a small, nimble competitor focused on a specific customer group.