Leica BLK ARC now the first certified reality capture device available for Boston Dynamics’ Spot®

(Heerbrugg, Switzerland) 24/9/2024 Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, today announced a strengthening of its partnership with Boston Dynamics, the world leader in mobile robots, making the Leica BLK ARC the first certified reality capture device for Boston Dynamics’ Spot. This announcement includes software integrations to deliver a new seamless laser scanning workflow for the agile mobile robot.

Throughout their four-year partnership, Leica Geosystems and Boston Dynamics have collaborated to deliver solutions that amplify each other’s effectiveness. The new seamless laser scanning workflow takes the integration to another level: Users can now initiate an Autowalk that includes laser scanning in the Spot app and execute it without human intervention.

By integrating this workflow into Boston Dynamics’ Orbit(™) robot fleet management software and Spot app, Spot customers can stack and control BLK ARC reality capture missions as part of a full suite of autonomous robotic capabilities alongside other payloads. This workflow enables customers to document and capture site conditions in plants, warehouses, and enclosed structures, as well as provide infrastructure for asset management, BIM modeling, fire investigation, and much more.

The operator can also choose individual positions along a mobile scan path to conduct static scans for added detail. Powerful Leica Geosystems software and cloud applications allow users to export mobile and static scans along with panoramic images easily for team collaboration, data processing, and the creation of digital twins.

“Our customers are already collecting data about equipment health with Spot, and now, they will be able to capture detailed 3D spatial data using the same workflow,” says Tim Dykstra, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Boston Dynamics. “Our partnership with Leica Geosystems offers another way dynamic industrial facilities can create and maintain digital twins with agile mobile robots.”

“Our technology partnership with Boston Dynamics played a vital role in accelerating the use of autonomous reality capture on robots as a foundation for creating digital twins,” says Simon Mark, VP Strategic Innovation at Hexagon’s Geosystems division. “Integrating our industry-leading technologies underlines our shared dedication to simplifying workflows, promoting autonomy in reality capture and unlocking new applications for robotic scanning.”