This is how it starts: you feel bad seeing the robot "dog" get kicked, and the next thing you know it's nipping at your heels, pushing you back to work in the salt mines. Instead of using the film and TV trope to illustrate how morally bankrupt a villain truly is, Google-owned Boston Dynamics employs it to show off "Spot": its latest quadruped, with an amazing ability to self-stabilize. The bot appears considerably more lithe than the AlphaDog it races up a hill, and can even roam in a tight pack with another unit. And unlike the diminutive Little Dog, Spot has a sensor-laden "head" that Boston Dynamics says helps it conquer a variety of ground cover.