Robot Dog Walking a Real Dog? Bizarre Scene Spotted on U.S. Street

Public divided over robot dogs roaming U.S. streets
A robot-dog-walking gig paying $20 an hour emerges

A robot dog walking a real dog has drawn attention in San Francisco, U.S. Coincidentally, a quirky job posting seeking someone to walk a robot dog has also appeared in the same area. As an era in which robots take over aspects of everyday life approaches, a paradoxical situation is unfolding: people are still needed to get the robots moving.

On the 13th, Yonhap News TV reported, citing ABC7 and other U.S. media outlets, that a robot dog had recently been spotted walking a real pet dog on a street in San Francisco, California, drawing widespread attention.

A robot dog walks a dog on a leash. ABC7

The video shows a four-legged robot dog and a real dog walking through the city, connected by a leash. As the robot dog led the way across a crosswalk, the dog calmly followed behind. After crossing, the robot dog turned right and continued along the sidewalk, with the dog naturally following along.

Pedestrians were crossing nearby, but no one appeared to be specifically controlling the robot dog or the real dog. However, it was unclear whether anyone was remotely controlling the robot dog or supervising the walk. Reactions from online users who saw the video were mixed. Some expressed amazement at advances in robotics, while others raised concerns about the dog's safety and animal welfare.

Online users commented, "Does the robot clean up after the dog?" "Does it give the dog time to sniff around or pee?" and "Who would be responsible if something unexpected happened?" Others criticized the idea, saying, "Leaving even dog walking to a robot is too much."

Interestingly, just two weeks earlier, an entirely opposite situation had made headlines in the same city. This time, rather than a robot dog walking a real dog, a job emerged for a person to walk a robot dog. According to The New York Times (NYT) on October 27, Dimensional, a robotics startup headquartered in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood, posted a job listing for a "Robot Dog Operator" in a local Facebook jobs group.

The video shows a quadruped robot dog and a real dog moving through the city, connected by a leash. As the robot dog leads the way across a crosswalk, the dog calmly follows behind. ABC7

The work involves walking with a robot dog along designated outdoor routes in downtown San Francisco for four to six hours a day. The hourly wage is $20, similar to what is typically paid for part-time dog-walking work. No experience in robotics is required; applicants need only a smartphone to use on the job. Training on safety guidelines and other topics is also paid.

Unlike ordinary dog walking, there is no need to clean up after the dog. Instead, if the robot dog breaks down or stops working, the operator may have to carry the equipment, which weighs about 15 kg, back to the office. Dimensional is recruiting for this unusual part-time job to improve the robot's autonomous navigation and task performance.

Dimensional is developing an open-source robot operating system (OS) to enable robots to take over human physical labor, such as carrying heavy loads. To that end, the company is conducting experiments in which robot dogs are operated in real urban environments to collect data. However, the results have not been as satisfactory as expected. The experiments revealed that current artificial intelligence (AI) agents are not yet capable of directly controlling robots well enough to navigate complex urban environments. Dimensional founder Stash Formictor told the NYT, "Our robot dog walking experiment showed that AI agents are still very poor at controlling hardware," adding, "For now, human intervention is still necessary."

Not everyone is welcoming the arrival of robot dogs on city streets. According to the NYT, some residents saw robot dogs roaming the streets and were reminded of the bleak future depicted in the film "The Terminator." In one incident, a resident who was hostile toward robot dogs visited Dimensional's office and sent threatening messages to an employee, prompting a police report. Amid the mix of hopes and concerns surrounding robot dogs, San Francisco is seeing the unusual spectacle of robot dogs walking real dogs in one place, while people walk robot dogs elsewhere.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.