Boston Dynamics, the robotics company that Google bought at the end of 2013, has released a video showing off "Spot," its newest four-legged robot. Boston Dynamics is best known for robots like this, having previously built BigDog (which can hurl a cinder block), the cheetah-like WildCat, and a humanoid called "PetMan."

Spot is a smaller, quieter version of the company's four-legged robots. The bot has been slimmed down to 160 pounds and is about the size of a large dog. Previous walkers from the company used a two-stroke engine to drive a hydraulics system, which meant the robot sounded like a chainsaw or dirt bike while in operation.

Spot swaps out the gas-burner for an electric engine, making it much quieter—this is the first Boston Dynamics video where the people near the robot aren't wearing ear protection. Also, since it's so much smaller and isn't spewing CO2 into the air, Spot is perfectly at home trotting around in an office environment.

While the holy grail of robotics is often seen as two-legged humanoid, a four-legged robot is almost as versatile and a lot more stable. Spot can happily tackle steep slopes, steps, and rough terrain, and it even recovers after a hard kick to the side.

Since being purchased by Google, Boston Dynamics has slowly been transitioning from a military-funded facility to a friendlier industrial- and consumer-focused niche within Google. Boston Dynamics' previous work was almost always funded by DARPA or the Department of Defense, and the company always noted that in its video descriptions. At the time of the Google purchase, there were still contracts that needed to be honored, but it's unclear who is funding Spot—the video is the first one the company has posted that doesn't mention any outside funding.