Imagine a dog you don't need to train. Instead, you can program it to do whatever you want. Now, you don't need to imagine it. Let's see Spot. It's a robot that looks like a dog from US company Boston Dynamics.
In March, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii(庞贝考古公园）in Italy gave Spot a new job. Pompeii is famous old city from the ancient world. Thousands of years ago, a nearby volcano（火山）covered the city in ash(灰). Many people died, but the ash kept buildings safe until someone found it in1748.
▲It walks around the city with a 3D scanner（扫描仪). There are many small underground tunnels（隧道）in Pompeii. Thieves used the tunnels to steal things. The tunnels bring safety problems to the ancient buildings. Robot dogs are small enough to go through these tunnels and find any problem about the buildings.
According to Gabriel Zuchtriegel, an engineer of the park, this is the first time anyone has used a robot to help protect an archaeological site(古迹). "It's a great progress and it would allow us to protect the place with greater speed and in total safely, "said Zuchtriegel.
Spot will also work with a 3D-scanning plane. The two will check the site regularly. They will look for any serious problem. As art magazine ART news said Pompeii is turning into a "Smart Archaeological Park".
