Boston Dynamics’ quadruped Spot now decodes analog thermometers and pressure gauges thanks to Google DeepMind’s Gemini Robotics‑ER 1.6 model.

The upgrade, revealed on April 14, pushes instrument‑reading accuracy from 23% to 98%, a leap that turns Spot into a reliable visual inspector for factories and warehouses.

Under the hood, Gemini’s agentic vision lets the robot point to needles, tick marks, and text, creating a visual scratchpad that guides its actions. Even without this feature, the model achieves 86% accuracy.

For Hyundai Motor Group’s plants, Spot can now navigate complex gauges and sight glasses, reducing manual checks and speeding maintenance cycles. The collaboration demonstrates how AI‑driven perception can make autonomous robots practical for industrial inspection.