NEW HAVEN, Conn. — There is new help at Avangrid’s East Shore Substation in New Haven, courtesy of a three-foot-tall robot dog named “Sparky."
Sparky is the newest employee at the substation. Part of a pilot program between Boston Dynamics and Levatas, it has been conducting tasks like reading analog gauges and recording thermal images.
Marco Hernandez, principal maintenance engineer at Avangrid, is part of the team that is responsible for keeping the robot dog on task.
Hernandez, a 22-year-veteran of Avangrid (United Illuminating) said, “its main job is supporting our operations personnel in looking for and identifying anomalies that could potentially become problematic in the future.”
"As long as you provide it with its tasks – when it’s supposed to start and when it’s supposed to end -- it does a nice job," Hernandez added.
Rogerio Camargo, the project leader behind Sparky, said, “it looks like we’re in a science fiction movie and it’s cool to see this technology in an environment like this.”
Camargo controls Sparky via a tablet and added that he likes the results he’s seen early on.
"The technology is very promising so we are very happy to work with him,” Camargo said.
Sparky's current price tag is around $300,000. With the help of artificial intelligence technology, its tasks will likely increase in the coming months and years.
“I never thought one day we would have a robot in our toolbox, it’s amazing," Hernandez said.
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Jimmy Altman is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at jaltman@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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