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Spot steps into package delivery from van to porch
Boston Dynamics is testing Spot for the last 50 feet of delivery, carrying up to two parcels from a van to a customer’s doorstep.
Image: TNW
Boston Dynamics is testing Spot as a package delivery robot designed to handle what it calls the “porch gap” — the last 50 feet between a delivery van and a front door.
In a video posted on Tuesday, the company showed a human driver loading parcels onto a conveyor belt mounted on Spot’s back. The four-legged robot then walks to a house and rotates the belt to place packages at the doorstep.
“So much of logistics is already automated, but we believe that the final frontier of logistics automation is that last 50 feet.”
Boston Dynamics said it is already talking with major logistics companies about testing Spot for last-mile deliveries. The company argues Spot has an edge over wheeled delivery robots and drones because its legs let it handle curbs, stairs, gravel, snow, and ice.
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The delivery payload includes stop sensors so Spot can split a single load into multiple doorstep deliveries, along with a small tray that slows the drop speed to set packages down gently. Boston Dynamics says Spot can carry two parcels at a time, which it estimates would cover at least 60 percent of the packages in an average delivery van.
The company is targeting a full pilot in which Spot works alongside a driver to deliver 200 packages a day, five days a week. Routes would start out being driven manually, then saved so Spot can repeat them autonomously at known addresses.
Boston Dynamics estimates that for every three packages Spot delivers, the driver can fit one additional package in the van, boosting throughput without adding headcount.
Cost and competition
Others are chasing the same problem. DoorDash has been using its autonomous delivery robot Dot for some deliveries in Arizona since late 2025, but the stroller-sized wheeled machine cannot climb stairs. Tony Xu, DoorDash’s CEO, said last year that loading deliveries into autonomous vehicles and getting them from curbs to doorsteps remain the hardest parts of automating delivery.
Spot’s price — roughly $75,000 — means the business case will depend on how many routes it can cover each day and whether logistics companies will pay extra to reduce driver fatigue and speed up deliveries. Now wholly owned by Hyundai, Boston Dynamics has steadily expanded Spot’s commercial roles from security patrols at the World Cup to site inspections and hazardous material surveys. Delivery would be its most consumer-facing job yet.
Frontier Editor
Dan is our resident futurist, covering electric mobility, space exploration, and the smart home. He's interested in atoms just as much as bits. Whether it's a new battery chemistry, a reusable rocket, or a protocol that finally makes IoT devices talk to each other, Dan breaks down the engineering that pushes humanity forward.
via TNW
